Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds
by Ldsprincess
Summary: What was supposed to be an easy mission turns into disaster as a mysterious group appears and threatens to destroy all that Kira and Co. have struggled to rebuild. New allies join, but not without their own secrets and regrets. What happens next will define the future of the world as they know it. KiraxLacus, AthrunxCagalli, ShinxLuna, and some other surprising, or not so, couples.
1. Prolouge: Calm Before the Storm

**Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds**

Written by: Kairi and Sora

Co-written by: Ldsprincess

Edited by: Ldsprincess

Hey just wanted to say hi and that this is the first story that I have ever co-written and edited and that the main storyline is written by my friend Kairi and Sora . We came up with the major storyline together and decided to see if you guys liked what we came up with. Any flames you send will come straight to me!!!! The editor!!!!! As I am the one to convince her to let me put it up, so if you don't like anything or just wanna tell us off, I'll be happy to bring a fire extinguisher!!!!!! Just joking.

But on a serious note, we really would appreciate any idea's you have and any opinions you want to give us, and we'll discuss them and see what we can do. Reviews are welcome as well as flames. Just remember we are new and this is our first story.

Disclaimer: we do not own anything close to Gundam seed or Gundam seed destiny, we have purchased the episode disks from the shop but that's about it…..

Prologue: Calm Before the Storm

As the innocent children of the Earth look up at the sky on a clear, starry, summer night, they have no idea of the battle that is about to begin in those beautiful but cold skies. In these same skies, the Ship of the Songstress, the Eternal, flies towards its destination. On the bridge, two young men are in deep conversation with each other.

"I hope that you haven't gotten rusty over the years." Kira teased as he sat in the Commander's seat.

"So what, while I was in Orb helping Cagalli with rebuilding Orb I had miraculously forgotten my space combat skills?" Athrun responded, moving behind Kira and places his hand on the back of the chair. "And in addition, you became a ZAFT commander."

"Ok, ok, don't be so serious, Athrun." Kira said with a smile. "Although, you did just get promoted to an Orb Admiral now as well, so you must have some skill." Athrun turned to face his childhood friend.

"You do realise that she's not going to be terribly happy with us if we don't get back in time. " Athrun stated as he leaned over to see the statistics on the screen. "You do know that, right?"

Kira sighed, "Athrun, do you really think I would rather be celebrating my birthday here. I would like to be there right now," his tone and face suddenly turned serious. "But this mission has to be successful. Of not, then there may not be a PLANT to return to."

They were given a very important mission, there was a barrage of meteors heading for earth, and the PLANT's were in the direct line of fire. The council had called upon its most skilled and youngest commander to take care of the threat. Kira turned to Athrun, about to say more when the door to the bridge suddenly opened.

"Shinn, what are you doing? We were given orders to stand by in the Unit's!" Luna called, coming in behind Shinn. Completely ignoring her, Shinn floated strait towards Kira and Athrun. They both turned with a questioning look to their new comrade and friend.

"Commander, Admiral!" Shinn saluted as he landed behind Athrun. Kira sighed and shook his head.

"Shinn, you know that you don't have to call us that, we are your friends after all." Kira said, once again turning to him. Shinn appeared a little uncomfortable.

"But, Sir…"

"Just give it up," Athrun smiled with amusement. "Kira's the kind of person who doesn't like to use the whole rank business between friends. Why do you think he never called any of his superior officers by their titles?" Athrun continued giving Kira a nudge. Kira responded with a sheepish smile.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." He then turned to address Shinn directly, and in doing so, changed the subject. "So what was it that you needed? You look a bit troubled."

"To be completely honest, I would feel a lot better about this mission if you both were to come out with us." Shinn said, looking sheepishly to the ground. "I mean this is my first mission with you. And, what if I mess up? "

Kira looked at Athrun, a bit confused. They both knew the skill Shinn possessed in battle, and were a bit confused on his hesitation. In the time Athrun spent as his comrade in the ZAFT Forces a year previous, he had seen Shinn jump into battle without a second thought, much like Kira would if his friends needed aid. He couldn't understand why he was hesitating now, especially after they became friends. Kira seemed to share in his confusion.

"Shinn…" Kira got up out o his chair and floated to Shinn, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You are one of ZAFT's most skilled pilots I've ever known, I have faith in your abilities, we all do, you can do this. Just remember that we are your friends and that if you need our help then we will be there in an instant."

Shinn looked at Kira's face and saw the concern and trust in his gaze, and all the fear and concerns that he had seemed to ebb out of him. He smiled.

"Thank you, sir- I mean, Kira." Kira smiled with encouragement, as Athrun nodded in agreement.

Shinn then turned to Luna, and they both departed from the bridge. As the door closed the muffled sound of an "I told you so" could be heard from Luna. Athrun shook his head and turned to Kira, about to say something, but stopped when he noticed his expression.

'_Something's up.' _He thought to himself. "What's wrong Kira?" he asked aloud.

Kira turned to him. "Oh, nothing." He replied as he turned and floated back to the commander's seat. In actual truth, something was bugging Kira. Something didn't feel right, like something was going to happen.

Athrun chose this moment to ask a question that had been on his mind for some time now.

"Kira," he began, choosing his words carefully. "It's been bugging me for a while now, but, why did you decide to join ZAFT? I always thought you hated ZAFT and yet here you are serving as a ZAFT Commander." He continued, thinking back to when they first met once more.

It was when he was a member of the Le Creuset team, and they entered the Heliopolis space colony to gain possession of the GAT series Earth Alliance Mobile Suits. He had been reunited with Kira, but it couldn't have been under worse circumstances. The storage bay was falling apart around them and they were separated as soon as they were reunited again. And as time went on, he had asked Kira to come with him to ZAFT, but he had always held a defiance to that prospect, blatantly refusing to go with him to ZAFT. And yet here he was serving as a commander.

In the background, the sounds of Shinn and Luna could be heard launching in their respective Mobile Suits.

"Shinn Auska, launching in Destiny. Lets Go!"

"Lunamaria Hawke, Impulse, Launching!"

"Ok Luna, here comes the rest of the Impulse" Meyrin told her sister from the CIC seat.

As this was happening, Kira opened a communication line.

"Okay guys, start breaking up the meteors. Make sure that none are over looked." He said, as soon as the visual communication screen showed the two pilots. They both nodded with an added, "Right" spoken in unison. Kira sighed once more as the communication was closed. This however did not escape Athrun's notice.

"Kira! What is it you won't tell me? Why-" he was suddenly cut off.

"Commander! There are four unidentified ships heading this way!!" Meyrin called out in alarm.

"Are they enemy crafts?" Kira responded.

"Unknown, but..." she trailed off, then spoke again in alarm. "they're- they're sending out their Mobile Suits!"

"What!" Athrun cried as he hovered over to her chair. "What's going on!? Can you identify them?" he asked a little agitated.

"One moment." She typed a little and then leaned back and turned to Athrun and Kira. "Confirmed. 22 Zaku Warriors, 6 Destroy's and 5 Murasame Gundams."

Hey sorry, my first ever time writing a cliffhanger, lol, my co-writer says i'm evil, but i couldn't resist. Well the usual requests apply, please review and i'll try to complete editing the first chapter. My co-writer is a bit shy but is awaiting your responces.


	2. Chapter 1: The Battle Begins Anew

_A/N: we didn't get very many reviews….. (sulks) but here's chapter one for you, and hope I get some reviews this time, I know the prologue didn't really tell you much but you'll get the plot as we go along._

_And thanks to_

_- __Tegan (x2)_

_- Prince-in-Disguise_

_For your reviews, They were much appreciated _

**Spoilers are in this chapter. And for those who have not finished gundam seed destiny yet, i would advise that you finish watching it before reading this chapter. (spoiler from the end of GSD)**

Disclaimer: We wish we owned Gundam Seed, but we don't, and just to let you know this is a KiraXLacus, AthrunXCagalli fic.

---------------

Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

Chapter 1: The Battle Begins Anew

_**Previously**_

"_Commander! There are four unidentified ships heading this way!!" Meyrin called out in alarm._

"_Are they enemy crafts?" Kira responded._

"_Unknown, but..." she trailed off, then spoke again in alarm. "they're- they're sending out their Mobile Suits!"_

"_What!" Athrun cried as he hovered over to her chair. "What's going on!? Can you identify them?" he asked a little agitated._

"_One moment." She typed a little and then leaned back and turned to Athrun and Kira. "Confirmed. 22 Zaku Warriors, 6 Destroy's and 5 Murasame Gundams."_

- - - - - -

"What? But that's impossible! The Zaku's are ZAFT machines, the Destroy's are Earth Alliance and the Murasume's are ORB machines!" Athrun cried as he leaned closer to the screen, double checking the identification on the screen.

Kira was already moving towards the door. "Captain, send a warning to Shinn and Luna, and also notify them that we are coming out too. There are too many of them to fight alone…" Kira paused and then turned to the navigations officer. "What is the closest team to out co-ordinates?"

"That would be the Joule Team sir, they are returning from an inspection mission of the Mendel Colony." He replied. The captain looked on as Kira moved to the communications officer.

"Contact the Joule Team and request for backup." Kira told her, and turned to Athrun. "Athrun, lets go."

Despite the circumstances, Athrun had to crack a smile. Although Kira was usually always calm, it was times like these when his calm commands would dare anyone to defy his command. It was then that Kira's last statement made itself known to him. He turned to Kira.

"What?" Athrun asked, but he didn't receive an answer.

"Send word to the PLANT's, and request them to set up a defensive line just in case we do not destroy all the meteors. Captain, take the bridge and get ready for anti-ship and Mobile Suit combat. And can you please get the Freedom and Justice ready for combat." Kira commanded as he and Athrun moved inside the lift. The captain saluted and sat down, waiting for the moment when he would be needed.

In the lift, Athrun turned to Kira and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Kira, do you really think that we would need Yzack and Dearka?" he asked as Kira turned to him.

"if it were just a few Destroy's then i wouldn't ask for backup, but Athrun, there are six of them. We'll need all the help we can get. We don't know who these people are and honestly, we had a hard time keeping up with them with Naturals piloting them." Kira sighed as the doors opened and they exited the lift. "I can't imagine how bad it would be if there were Coordinators piloting them."

As they reached the change rooms, Athrun remained quiet as he got changed. He appeared to be thinking hard about something. He suddenly paused half way through doing up the zip of his suit.

"That could be true... they may be Coordinators... but that would mean that the Naturals must joined with the Coordinators. But I can't see Cagalli sending out the Murasume's without letting us know, or ZAFT sending out the Zaku's without doing the same." He informed Kira and Kira nodded in agreement. Athrun finished doing up his uniform and remembered something. "By the way, Kira, you didn't tell me why you joined up with ZAFT."

Kira was doing up his pilot uniform, in comparison to the usual white uniform of a commander, he had opted to continue wearing his ORB Space Suit. He couldn't explain it, but he felt it proved the alliance between ZAFT and ORB*. He paused for a moment and seemed to be contemplating his answer. He looked away from Athrun.

"i couldn't... I couldn't just leave Lacus and stay in ORB, or sit around and wait for another war to start, like i did last time." He looked at Athrun with a pained look on his face. "I felt useless. That everyone was fighting and I was just sitting on my butt. But this time... this time I'll be the one here helping to stop another war." He finished, with a look of pure determination. Athrun just stared at him, his expression unreadable.

Kira took his helmet off the shelf and turned to Athrun once more, who was still staring into space. He looked at him curiously, but before he could say anything, the communications screen flashed on and the captain appeared on the screen.

"Commander, we appear to be having a bit of trouble!"

Suddenly, as if to back up his words, the ship lunged to the side. Kira and Athrun, unaware of the activity going on outside the ship, were thrown into the wall, and braced themselves for another impact. None came and they straightened up and went over to the screen once more.

"Sorry about that Sir – Kira." As a look from Kira had him changing his words.

"It's okay, we're just heading out now." Kira responded as the screen went blank. He turned to Athrun who had grabbed his helmet off the shelf and was staring at Kira. Kira laughed.

"Come on, is what i said so surprising?" he asked as they left for the Launch Bay. Athrun just looked at his helmet before he put it on.

"Not really, it's just that I didn't expect you to join ZAFT." Athrun turned to face Kira again, and Kira shook his head.

"Now is not the time for this, we can discuss this later. For now we need to help Luna and Shinn." Kira said as the doors opened to the launch bay. They then separated into their respected mobile suits.

"Meyrin, how many are left from the original numbers?" he asked as he did up his harness/belt. He was curious on how well Shinn and Luna doing.

"One moment sir... There are 12 Zaku's, 2 Murasume's and all six Destroy's are still out there." She responded, looking a bit worried for her sister and Shinn. Kira took note of this.

"Don't worry Meyrin, they will be okay." Kira heard Athrun call through another communications line.

Meanwhile, outside, Shinn had been surrounded by four of the six Destroy's. Just as they shot at the Destiny, he flew up, dodging the attack.

"Shinn, are you okay?!" Luna called out, worried.

"Yeah... Luna watch out!!!" he screamed at her, flying furiously towards her. There was another one of the Destroy's behind her. Shinn growled in frustration as another one came and blocked his path.

"Luna!!!!!" he called.

Luna turned just in time to see another Destroy heading towards her. She heard Shinn call her name and she screamed as she closed her eyes, waiting for the fatal blow. When she didn't feel anything, she opened her eyes and saw the arms and head of the Destroy were missing. The Strike Freedom was standing between her and the Destroy.

"Kira! Thank you so much!" she called to him. His machine turned to her, and an image on the communications screen appeared before her.

"No problem, Luna. How are you and Shinn holding up?" he asked.

"We're fine, now." She replied, with a sigh.

"Luna, take a deep breath and relax. It's good that you're looking out for Shinn and all, but remember that you need to look after yourself too." Kira cautioned her, and he saw the Infinite Justice fly out of the Eternal.

"Thanks for the advice." She answered and went to continue to fight.

Meanwhile, not too far off from the battle, a sinister man waits for a status report. He could see the battle going on in the distance, and wondered if the mice had come out yet. The door suddenly opened behind him and a slightly built man enters the room.

"My Lord, they've entered the battlefield, just like you anticipated. Should I give the order?" He reported.

"Yes, I believe the time is right." Replied a voice equally as sinister as his form.

"Sir, we still have a problem with the team they sent for back up. What should we do?"

"Isn't it obvious..." the figure turned around, a shadow blanketing the upper half of his body. "FINISH THE JOB BEFORE THEY GET THERE!!!!" he yelled at the man.

"Yes my Lord. Whatever you wish." He said as he ran out the door.

The man turned once more to the distant battle.

"Lets see how long they last.... This could be fun..."

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Next chapter

Chapter 2: In the Midst of Battle

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A/N: oooohhhhhh creepy.... lol well i gotta say i'm proud of myself. I've been trying to get this done all week, what with school work and extra curricular activities after school, but after spending 2 hours on the computer, i finally finished.

* i just couldn't envision Kira in a Commander's Space suit. (IE white and black) I just couldn't and so i put him in his orb one, and i gotta say i think i added that bit nicely. Kairi Loves Sora helped me with that, cause i just didn't know how to word that part and she is the original writer, so i had to get permission.... he he he. Oh and just to let you know, athrun is in his orb Space Suit, cause he's now and ORB commander so he is allowed to have the ORB uniform.

Review please!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Chapter 2: In The Midst of Battle

A/N: hey whoa, so far this story has had 281 HITS, 1 C2, 2 favourite story, and 7 alerts!!!!!! Wow, we didn't expect that many people to read the story… but we're glad you liked it and we'll continue, only if you keep reviewing. Well after the fourth chapter we might be taking a little break, as we still need to write the chapters after that, so we might be put on hold for a week or so…… but for the time being, enjoy!!!!!

Special thanks to:

Wind McCloud

Prince-in-Disguise

For your reviews, they were much appreciated, and I would encourage you all to please review, as I need help encouraging Kairi Loves Sora to continue writing, so I can continue editing and so you can continue reading! (If you could understand that).

(I don't know why I write this, because how many people actually read the Author Notes? I know I mostly skip over them……..)

------------------------------

Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

Chapter 2: In the Midst of Battle

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_Previously_

_Meanwhile, not too far off from the battle, a sinister man waits for a status report. He could see the battle going on in the distance, and wondered if the mice had come out yet. The door suddenly opened behind him and a slightly built man enters the room._

"_My Lord, they've entered the battlefield, just like you anticipated. Should I give the order?" He reported._

"_Yes, I believe the time is right." Replied a voice equally as sinister as his form._

"_Sir, we still have a problem with the team they sent for back up. What should we do?"_

"_Isn't it obvious..." the figure turned around, a shadow blanketing the upper half of his body. "FINISH THE JOB BEFORE THEY GET THERE!!!!" he yelled at the man._

"_Yes my Lord. Whatever you wish." He said as he ran out the door._

_The man turned once more to the distant battle._

"_Lets see how long they last.... This could be fun..."_

-------------------------

Kira and his team were fighting hard. So far they had destroyed the remaining 12 Zaku's and the 2 Murasume's, but they had only taken out the one Destroy that Kira had disarmed.

"Kira!" Athrun called.

"Below! Shinn, give Luna some back up. Captain, Where are the Joule Team?" Kira responded, dodging three blasts from the surrounding Destroy's. Athrun followed close behind him, slicing off the Beam Cannons off of all three, while Kira went to help aid Shinn and Luna.

Suddenly, Kira felt a familiar pull, one he hadn't felt in a long time, but it was weak. He turned just in time to see another Destroy right behind him. Before he could react, the Destroy grabbed the Freedom's arm and flung him into the Justice, which was coming to help him. Upon impact, bits of metal flew all around them and a small explosion went off in the Freedom's cockpit.

"Kira! Are you okay?" Athrun cried. The communications screen was fuzzy and he didn't know if he was alright or not. Finally, an audio got through.

"I'm alright." It said weakly.

Before anything else could happen, Athrun saw the Destroy that threw them aim its Beam Cannon's at them. They both tried to right themselves in time to move, when all of a sudden, a shot came out of no where and destroyed the Beam Cannon and a leg.

"Well, well, well. Look whose coming crawling to me for help; the almighty Freedom and Justice. You have some nerve Kira Yamato!" Came the voice of Yzak Joule, as the Ignited flew down next to the Freedom and Justice. The Destroy backed up only to be stopped by another Mobile Suit. The Mobile Suit opened fire upon the Destroy and managed to damage the main body of the Mobile Suit, causing an explosion near the cockpit.

"Give him a break, I mean, he isn't as young as he used to be." Came the voice of Dearka Elsman. "By the way, who said you could start the party without us?"

His ZAKU Phantom Mobile Suit floated down to the left of the Justice, as Kira and Athrun managed to separate from each other. They scattered as two more Destroy's came to assist their cornered comrade.

"It's about time you got here." Kira replied, breathing heavily. "And you do know that you are older than I am."

An image of Dearka appeared on Kira's screen, wearing a goofy grin on his face.

"Well this guy wanted to report back to the PLANT's first, but we saw an Earth Alliance Battle Ship, with its Mobile Suits being deployed, and then he started ordering people about, telling them to get our Mobile Suits ready." Dearka's smile widened as a growl from Yzak cut him off. "And I'm glad we did come, I mean what would you be doing right now without us." He chuckled. "And we couldn't exactly say no to the Chairman's Boyfriend, now, could we?" He continued.

"No you couldn't." Athrun put in, staying next to Kira, still not convinced that Kira was okay. His heavy breathing wasn't helping.

"Oh Hey Athrun, You okay in there?" Dearka asked.

Before anyone could respond to this, the Destiny flew past them, with the Impulse not far behind, firing a barrage of shots heading towards the Destroy's, all of which had gathered into one group to attack them all as a whole.

"Could you old guys stop hanging around reminiscing about the old days and get out here and help us?!" Shinn called out to the group of more experienced pilots, as they took a moment to respond.

"Since when did he start giving out the orders?" Dearka asked, but everybody had already scattered.

Yzak began attacking the closest Destroy and within 10 minuets, managed to destroy it, and move on to the next one.

As the battle wore on, and there were 2 less Destroy's, one of which had been damaged beyond the ability to fight, and the other was destroyed by the combined efforts of Yzak and Dearka. Kira noticed that three of the remaining Destroy's had separated from the group and had begun to surround the Eternal and Yzak's ship. He began to head towards the aforementioned ships, but was blocked by the handicapped Destroy. As he completed disarming the Destroy, he heard an explosion behind him and he turned to see Yzak's ship being torn apart. He could just make out the life Pod's fleeing to the Eternal, and thankfully, none were hit, and then the ship exploded. As this happened, all fighters stopped their battles to watch the ship crumble to nothing. Taking advantage of this, a Destroy which was fighting Luna shot her in the back. At this moment, her P.S armour was disabled. Seeing this, Shinn immediately made his way over to her.

"Luna, Get behind me!!!" he called as he then shot the Destroy near the Cockpit.

"Thanks Shinn. What are we going to do?" she asked in response. But unknown to them, Kira was already formulating a plan.

'_If we try to leave now the meteors will hit the PLANT's. But if we don't get Luna out of here soon she'll get shot down. I know Shinn is a good pilot, but if he's spending his time protecting Luna then he won't last much longer either. There are too many people on the Eternal to have near the battle. This is the only option.'_ Kira finished his thought process and began giving out the orders.

"Luna, I need you to get back to the Eternal. Yzak, Dearka, I know I've asked a lot of you, and as a result you have lost your ship, but I need to ask you one more favour. Could you please help Luna back to the Eternal and then board yourselves." He asked as he headed towards Athrun. Yzak appeared on the communications screen.

"You Bastard! Are you saying we should run away?!" Yzak called, Dearka, having known the young pilot for quite a while now, and recognising the tone of his voice, made the decision for both of them.

"Okay Kira, do what you have to. We'll get Luna to safety. Good Luck."

"Dearka you traitor! I'll Never-"

"I trust in Kira and so should you. He'll have a plan. So let's go." Dearka said as he headed for the Impulse. Yzak growled in reluctance.

"Okay. But one word of this to anyone and I'll…" he trailed off, and Dearka smiled.

"Not a word." Reaching Luna he grabbed her machine by the arm. "Come on Luna. We better get out of here."

"Luna." Shinn appeared on her screen. "Stay safe."

She nodded as the three of them made their way to the Eternal, and the Destroy's made their way to the three remaining fighters.

"Shinn, Athrun, with me!" Kira suddenly called over the communications line.

"Lets Kick Ass!" Athrun replied.

As they all came together to attack the Destroy's, they all went into seed mode. The battle that followed was a difficult one. The Eternal fired its beam cannons to assist its commander in any way it could, but as they were fighting, Shinn noticed that the Freedom was slowing down occasionally.

"Kira, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah…I'm…I'm fine." Was his reply, but his heavy breathing failed to convince both Shinn and Athrun that their friend was okay.

'_You're not okay are you?' _Shinn thought to himself, but as he was worrying about Kira, a Destroy came and shot him in the back. The Destiny flew forwards and inside the cockpit, things weren't that much better.

"Shinn!" Athrun called out, catching the attention of Kira, who had just finished Dismantling the Destroy he was fighting, and he flew out and caught Shinn with the Freedom. The landing caused Kira to be jostled around in the cockpit, and when they stopped, Kira was holding his chest in pain. He took a few deep breaths before speaking.

"Shinn, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." Shinn answered back before wincing sharply when he moved his arm.

"What is it?" Kira asked, concerned.

"I've got pieces of shrapnel in my arm, but I'll be okay." He answered. He was determined to get this over with. Kira was reluctant to allow him to continue fighting, but allowed him to continue battling, after seeing the determination in his face.

"Okay, just don't over do it." He said to Shinn, letting go of the Destiny. As he flew off towards the meteors he could hear a soft, "you too" from Shinn.

"Athrun, you and Shinn take care of the rest of the Destroy's, I'm going on ahead to get rid of the meteors." Kira called to them, and he heard a confirmation.

"Have a medical team on standby for when they come in!" The captain commanded the crew of the Eternal, trying to hide the worry in his voice. Then a voice message came in from the Commander.

"Captain, I'm going to have to ask you to keep going until Athrun or I can relieve you. Or you could ask Yzak to take over for a while until we get back. And send a message to the PLANT's, otherwise Lacus and Cagalli would be sick with worry." He said. Kira continued his job of breaking down the meteors, and soon he had destroyed every single one. He turned and met up with Shinn and Athrun, who had taken care of the 2 remaining Destroy's.

"We really should get back. We don't know what state the girls will be in by now." Athrun cautioned. Kira nodded in agreement and they headed back to the Eternal.

Unbeknownst to them, was a recognisance ZAKU hidden behind a piece of metal that was floating nearby.

Meanwhile the sinister man was sitting in his chair waiting for the news of the success of his plan.

"I wonder how long they lasted?" he mused to himself. As he finished this train of thinking aloud, the same slightly built man from before came nervously into the room.

"So it seemed it went well," He continued. "What news have you come to bring me?"

The man swallowed hard and bowed his head.

"My Lord, it seems they got away."

"Too bad." Said the sinister man, "You'll do better next time."

He then brought out a gun and shot the man in the shoulder. He fell to the floor, clutching his shoulder in pain, blood seeping through his fingers.

"Just be sure that you do not fail me again." He said as he watched the man before him writhe in pain.

"We managed to damage they're Mobile Suits and there is a strong possibility that they're injured." The man managed to get out through clenched teeth.

"Well then at least it wasn't a complete failure. Just make sure the next mission is successful." The Sinister man replied and he turned his back to the man.

"Enjoy yourselves while you can, because we'll be coming for you soon." He ended with a laugh.

wow, that took a while to write, and even longer to type up, but I'm having so much fun with this story and I've now got the hard copy's of chapter's 3, 4, and 5 and so I'm looking forward to typing them up, and like I said earlier, please help me encourage Kairi Loves Sora to keep writing.

Thank you

And sorry for those who don't like swearing, i personally don't like swearing, but it was nessisary to keep all of them in character.

Read and Review please, I'll try to continue the one chapter a week but to do so we need reviews!!!!!!


	4. Chapter 3: The Party

A/N:

Sorry I didn't get this up on time, but I've been burdened with school assignments and after school training sessions for cheerleading. And to top it off, I had to stay in school just to finish up assignments when I was meant to be at the child care centre... such is the life of a senior student... and I have been recently working at a child care centre, so I've been utterly exhausted. I've then had a camp all last week and that took up all the time I had and I fell over and badly bruised my knee and the kneecap. I again apologise for the lateness of this chapter, I can assure you I have been trying to get this up and running. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's really good.

Oh and, hey we've been pretty disappointed with the amount of reviews we have received, Kairi Loves Sora has been getting frustrated at the amount of people reviewing. PLEASE SAVE ME!!!!!! SHE'S GETTING ANGRY AT ME FOR NOT MAKING IT INTERESTING ENOUGH IN MY EDITING!!!!!.

So please read and review!!!!!

P.s special thanks to Prince-in-Disguise and Shinn Asuka- Destiny's Warrior for your reviews.

And sorry about the mix up with chapters, I had to fix something up, cause Athrun would be an Admiral, not a commander. Sorry about that!

**Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds**

**Written By: Kairi Loves Sora**

**Co-Written By: Ldsprincess**

**Edited By: Ldsprincess**

Chapter 3: The Party

---------------------------

_Previously_

"_Shinn, Athrun, with me!" Kira suddenly called over the communications line._

"_Lets Kick Ass!" Athrun replied. _

_As they all came together to attack the Destroy's, they all went into seed mode. The battle that followed was a difficult one. The Eternal fired its beam cannons to assist its commander in any way it could, but as they were fighting, Shinn noticed that the Freedom was slowing down occasionally._

"_Kira, are you okay?" he asked._

"_Yeah…I'm…I'm fine." Was his reply, but his heavy breathing failed to convince both Shinn and Athrun that their friend was okay._

'_You're not okay are you?' Shinn thought to himself, but as he was worrying about Kira, a Destroy came and shot him in the back. The Destiny flew forwards and inside the cockpit, things weren't that much better._

_----- ---- ---- -----_

"_We really should get back. We don't know what state the girls will be in by now." Athrun cautioned. Kira nodded in agreement and they headed back to the Eternal._

_Unbeknownst to them, was a recognisance ZAKU hidden behind a piece of metal that was floating nearby. _

_Meanwhile the sinister man was sitting in his chair waiting for the news of the success of his plan._

"_I wonder how long they lasted?" he mused to himself. As he finished this train of thinking aloud, the same slightly built man from before came nervously into the room. _

"_So it seemed it went well," He continued. "What news have you come to bring me?"_

_The man swallowed hard and bowed his head._

"_My Lord, it seems they got away."_

"_Too bad." Said the sinister man, "You'll do better next time."_

_He then brought out a gun and shot the man in the shoulder. He fell to the floor, clutching his shoulder in pain, blood seeping through his fingers._

"_Just be sure that you do not fail me again." He said as he watched the man before him writhe in pain. _

"_We managed to damage they're Mobile Suits and there is a strong possibility that they're injured." The man managed to get out through clenched teeth._

"_Well then at least it wasn't a complete failure. Just make sure the next mission is successful." The Sinister man replied and he turned his back to the man._

"_Enjoy yourselves while you can, because we'll be coming for you soon." He ended with a laugh._

_---- ---- ----- ----------_

**Chapter 3: The Party**

At the PLANT's, Cagalli and Lacus were standing together in Lacus' living room, when a man in a military uniform approached the two. Lacus straightened up the light lavender dress she wore, and the darker purple, transparent butterfly sleeves fluttering with the movement, as well as the layer of the same transparent darker purple over top of the light lavender skirt of the dress. Cagalli noticed this and took it as a sign of nervousness. She herself wore her trademark outfit of pants and a tee-shirt. Though they held a more formal flare to them than her usual battle attire.

When Lacus had returned to the PLANT's, she had restored her former home back to it's original state, and was now living comfortably there with Kira, with the occasional visits from Athrun and Cagalli, whose relationship was still a little shaky at best. But recently, things began looking up for the former couple.

The man seemed to be giving a report, and Lacus turned to Cagalli. Cagalli nodded to something Lacus had said and headed out to the back veranda, with Lacus following close behind. The man saluted and departed form the house. As usual, Haro was following close behind Lacus calling; "I will Not Accept That!"

As they walked out, Cagalli could see the rather large group of guests conversing with each other. She walked forward to the veranda railing.

"Excuse me everyone," she called as Lacus came up beside her. "I must apologise for the wait, but they should be here soon." She turned to Lacus, who had a cleverly concealed worried expression on her face, which Cagalli could easily see through.

"Lacus?" She asked. Lacus turned to her as Birdie came and landed on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Cagalli," as she spoke, Haro bounced up and down beside her. "This was supposed to be an easy mission, which was why I agreed that both Athrun and Kira would go together. But now, I have a bad feeling, I'm a little worried." She turned away.

Lacus hated conflict as much as Kira did and has always done the best she could to prevent it, even if it meant placing herself in the middle of said conflict. She held a great reluctance to seeing Kira fight, but she understood that in order to maintain the peace they worked so hard to gain, he had to fight.

A memory came to the front of her mind; of the day he told her he would be joining ZAFT.

_**Flashback**_

_Lacus was kneeling on the ground on the back veranda, playing with her Haro's, as Kira walked through the back doors. Birdie flew off his shoulder and onto hers with a cry of "Birdie!"_

"_There you are, Kira!" she exclaimed with a smile. She turned to Kira and her smile widened, as her hair swept gently on the ground with the movement. Her smile faltered a little in concern as she noticed Kira's face. "Kira? What's wrong? Did something happen?"_

_Kira looked at her, as her hoard of Haro's came and surrounded him._

"_Something like that."_

_Lacus' favourite Haro, Mr. Pink, suddenly jumped into Lacus' hands, saying, "There's a problem!"_

"_Hush, Mr. Pink, that's quite enough." She scolded the robotic ball._

"_Haro's right," Kira said, sitting down in a chair next to her. "There is a problem. I was approached by a ZAFT Commander today." He confessed._

"_Oh." Lacus said turning once more to face him._

"_Yeah. He asked me weather I would be joining the Military." He continued. "And I wanted to talk to you about it. It's something that has been on my mind for a while now."_

_Lacus sighed and stood up. As she began to walk to Kira's side, Haro jumped out of her hands and onto Kira's lap, and birdie flew from her shoulder to land on Kira's. She knelt down again at his side; avoiding the numerous other Haro's jumping around him, and placed her hand on his knee. Kira turned to Birdie and smiled._

"_What is it, Kira?" Lacus asked. He turned once again to her, and then looked to his lap._

"_I don't want to fight any more. I hate fighting, but I don't want to sit around and wait for another war to start... like last time..."_

_Lacus looked away from his face, remembering the recent war. __Durandal had tried to have her assassinated, targeted her because of her influence over the people of the PLANT's and the people on the earth. Even then she was reluctant to allow Kira to fight, even if it was to protect her. Then there was Cagalli's 'almost' wedding, and from there, things just got worse. She turned back to Kira as she felt his hand rest on top of hers. Their eyes met, and Kira's held a deep emotion, an emotion she knew all too well._

"_I want to help prevent another war from happening, to protect this peace we fought so hard to gain, and to protect those closest to me..." He paused and looked away. Lacus knew what he was trying to say, that he would protect _Her_. "I want to avoid conflict as much as possible, after being pulled into both wars, and seeing the utter futility of war and conflict, I don't see a reason why there would be a need for all the killing brought about by battles. But there are some things worth fighting for, and some things you can't protect with out fighting, and if fighting is the only way I can do that, then so be it." He turned to her again. She rose and embraced him._

"_Kira," She said comfortingly. "You cannot blame yourself for anything that has happened, nor anything that will happen, but look to the future and try to do what you can, to bring about that future that you wish to make a reality. Trust your feelings and do what your heart tells you. No one would think any less of you. But rather, they will look up to you and follow your example." She paused and he looked at her. "But promise me, that you will never fight alone." She smiled. "Okay?"_

_Kira returned the smile and embraced her in return._

"_I will." He promised, as the Haro's continued to bounce around them._

_**End Flashback**_

She was pulled from her thoughts by a mobile communications device began ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and motioned for Cagalli to follow her. As they entered the house once more, Lacus activated the visual communications screen. A member of the Supreme Council came onto the screen.

"Lacus Clyne here."

"Miss Clyne, we just received information from the reconnaissance team we dispatched." Said the female council member. "They arrived at the Eternal's last known coordinates, only to find a mass amount of debris." Lacus froze.

"Have you received any communications from the Eternal?" she asked as Cagalli put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry; we are yet to receive a communication from Commander Yamato about the whereabouts of the Eternal."

"I see." Lacus' face fell a little, and then she came together. "I thank you for your assistance." The council member nodded and the screen closed.

Lacus sighed, took Cagalli's hand, and once again, turned to face the group in the back garden. As she stepped up to the railing, Birdie flew off her shoulder and flew off her shoulder and flew inside.

"Excuse me everyone." Lacus said as the conversations ceased. "I was just informed by the council that, because Kira has not made contact with the ZAFT headquarters, they dispatched a reconnaissance team to investigate. However, when they returned, they said that the area, in which the Eternal was last known, was littered with debris." She lowered her head a little, worry in her eyes.

Cagalli's eyes began to tear and she turned her head to hide her tears. She hated this. Not knowing if her brother was okay. And... Her mind wandered to Athrun.

Their relationship had been a complicated one, ever since the war ended. She knew she still loved him, and knew that he still held some feelings for her; he had stayed in ORB after the war ended after all. The past year had been difficult; there was no doubt about that. But it seemed that they both made the effort to be a part of each other's lives again. They had managed to reach a point of close companionship once again. Meyrin occasionally visited when Athrun returned from the PLANT's, and they had developed a close friendship, despite the circumstances. Cagalli could tell that Meyrin was aware of the growing relationship between Athrun and herself, but to her surprise, Meyrin held no ill will towards her.

Cagalli was suddenly pulled from her reminiscing by the feel of Lacus' arms surrounding her in a comforting embrace.

"I'm sure they're alright, Cagalli," Lacus' comforting words calmed her somewhat. "They'll be here, they maybe a little late, but I know that they are all okay. I'm sure of it."

'I hope you're right.' Cagalli thought as she nodded her head. 'Athrun, Kira, Shinn, Meyrin, Luna... I hope you're okay...'

Lacus watched Cagalli's reaction to the news, and noticed how her tears seemed to slow a little.

Meyrin had approached her a few months ago, with some questions about Athrun and Cagalli's relationship. When she had told her, Meyrin seemed lost in thought. After a few minuets, Meyrin seemed to have come to a conclusion. She then asked her if she would help her with a little 'quest'. Meyrin wanted her help in getting the two back together. Since then, they have tried different types of set ups, all of which, both Athrun and Cagalli, were oblivious to. Everyone could see that the two cared for each other very deeply, and right now the knowledge that Athrun could be hurt, or worse, was tearing her up inside.

===GSD===

_**MEANWHILE**__** (Mu & Murrue)**_

The group of guests began conversing once more, this time with worried tones. Two people in particular were in deep conversation about the recent developments.

"Do you really think that all three of them, plus the Eternal, would have been shot down?" said Mu La Flaga as he placed his chin in his hand in his thinking pose. "Somehow I doubt it." He turned to Murrue Ramius, his expression serious, his now short hair swaying slightly with the movement.*

"No!" She said suddenly, and rather loudly, catching the attention of the people nearest to the two. "Do you really think that someone would be able to take out Kira that easily? He and Athrun are two of the best pilots I have ever known and have ever seen, and Shinn isn't that bad either. Do you honestly think that Kira would allow anything to happen to either of them, not to mention the Eternal and the Impulse." She paused as Mu sighed. "And I really don't think that those two would leave Kira on his own. In the likelihood of a battle, that is probably what would happen."

Mu nodded in agreement, as others around him nodded as well.

"Still, with the information we received, a battle occurring during this mission appears to have been a higher percentage than we originally thought." As he said this, the front doors could be heard opening.

Silence encompassed the entire group. As everyone turned to the veranda doors, four silhouettes could be seen approaching the doors. When they stepped up to the doorway, it was revealed that the four silhouettes were Yzak and Dearka, closely followed by Meyrin and Luna.

Lacus and Cagalli turned fully to see them. Lacus noticed the few minor grazes on Luna's arm and cheek, while Cagalli gave a tiny sigh of relief. At least Luna and Meyrin were okay. She looked expectantly towards the doorway, but after a few minutes, it failed to reveal the two she was waiting for. She turned to Luna, unaware of Lacus suddenly stiffen and her hold tighten a little.

"Where are they?" she asked, her voice unintentionally harsh. Luna was about to reply when Lacus let out a soft gasp.

Cagalli's attention was once again brought to the doorway, as a single form exited the house. Shinn walked towards them sheepishly, his arm in a sling and a bandage around his head. The red uniform of a ZAFT pilot was undone a little at the top.

"Shinn..." Cagalli had opened her mouth to speak, but the soft voice of Lacus had been voiced instead. "Where are Kira and Athrun?"

Everyone was still, awaiting the response form the young pilot. Cagalli's gaze seemed to make him a little uncomfortable. As Shinn shifted uncomfortably, Lacus saw, from the corner of her eye, Birdie once again fly out towards her, with the forms of two people approaching. A hand suddenly appeared on Shinn's shoulder, making him jump.

"Wah!" Shinn called as he felt the sudden pressure. He turned and saw Kira and Athrun behind him, both smiling.

"Hey, sorry we're late. We had to get changed." Kira apologized. He suddenly felt a pair of arms surround him and the weight of a small body slam into him. He winced and resisted the urge to flinch. He looked to see Lacus embracing him.

"Oh, Kira!" she sighed. "You had everyone worried."

"Lacus..." Kira smiled. "Look I'm fine, and so is Athrun... We're all okay." He moved to embrace her in return.

Mu watched Kira with sharp, worried eyes. He had seen Kira wince and his barely concealed flinch. But from the outside, Kira appeared to be perfectly fine. He wore a pair of dark bone pants with a dark blue long sleeved shirt on. Athrun had on a dark purple/blue button up shirt on with white bone pants on, with a white jacket over top. He had a bandage on his head and arm. He returned his gaze to Kira, who had taken Lacus' hand and the two stood side by side.

"I'm sorry everyone that we were so late. We ran into a bit of trouble regarding the mission we were assigned." He addressed the crowed, his voice returning to its normal tone. He scanned the large group before him and grew a bit surprised. "There are a lot of people here. I didn't realise so many people would come..."

"How can you be so calm!?" Cagalli suddenly screamed. Kira turned to her, just to relive the experience of her body slamming into his, although this time, the force of the landing was harder and his painful reaction was less concealed than before.

"How can you act like nothing happened?" She buried her face in his shirt, while gripping it with her hands. "Look at Athrun and Shinn! They were both injured! How is it that a mission to destroy the meteors resulted in the injury of them both?!" Cagalli began beating his chest, tears falling from her eyes. How could he act this way when everyone was worried sick about him?

With every hit, Kira moved a step back, until they hit the wall behind them. When Kira's back collided with the wall, he winced noticeably.

"You just don't get it do you?!" She paused, taking a few shaky breaths. "We were so worried about you!"

She was about to hit him again, when she felt a hand restraining her. She turned to see Athrun holding her wrist.

"Cagalli, calm down!" he said firmly yet comfortingly. "He's been through enough! We tried to get back as soon as we could."

Cagalli's eyes met Athrun's for a moment, and then looked away. She relaxed her fist and let go of Kira's shirt, feeling Athrun's release her wrist. She looked to Kira and saw him leaning heavily against the wall, with Lacus holding his shoulders. He was panting heavily and sweat was beginning to gather on his face. She clenched her fist again and felt something wet and sticky on her hand. She looked down and found that half of her hand was coated with blood. Her eyes widened as she looked back at Kira, to find that the front of his shirt was coated in the sticky substance. People began gathering around the group, and a few of them had begun to reach for the young Coordinator. Cagalli's eyes began filling with fresh tears as she looked to the ground.

"Kira, I... I didn't know- I... You're..." She stammered, and, unable to form a coherent sentence, she fell to the floor.

Athrun was the first to reach her, and gathered her into his arms. She turned to him and began crying harder into his chest. Lacus looked to the pair. No matter what happened in the past, Cagalli and Athrun needed each other. She felt a hand over hers, and her gaze returned to the one in her arms. Her eyes met purple and she smiled.

"I'm sorry Lacus... I did my best not to make you and Cagalli worry." He whispered, looking away from her kind, blue eyes. Birdie flew and, once again, landed on his shoulder, and Kira was vaguely aware of Haro bouncing beside them both, calling some indistinct phrase.

Lacus' eyes softened even more, and used her hand to guide Kira's face back to hers. Once again, Purple met Blue.

"As long as you come back to me, I'll be alright." Lacus whispered, causing him to remember when she first asked him this. Before the final battle of the first Bloody Valentine War.

"Yes, I am sorry." He replied, hiving her hand a light squeeze.

Lacus nodded and helped him to stand up off the wall. They both looked over to Cagalli and Athrun, who were now surrounded by Murrue, Luna and Meyrin. Kira looked at Mu, and noticed his intent gaze on him. He turned back to Cagalli when he heard Athrun call his name. Cagalli was still cradled in his arms, but her tears had slowed to some occasional sobs. Kira, with Lacus' help, knelt down and embraced his twin sister.

"I'm sorry I worried you." He said softly to her. "Everything's okay now, I'm fine."

She nodded and with one hand still gripping Athrun's shirt, and he head still buried in his arms, she gripped Kira's hand in a tight squeeze.

"Kira, we'd better get your wound looked at." Murrue's voice reached his ears and he looked up at her. "You look like your in pain." She continued, reaching out a hand to help him up.

Lacus was about to assist her, when a hand grabbed Kira's arm. She looked to see Mu's eyes boring into hers; he then smiled in a quirky manner.

"It's alright." He said. "I'll take him." He turned to Murrue. "Meanwhile, you girls get the party started. We won't be long."

He pulled Kira up, and looked to Cagalli, who was once again embraced fully by Athrun, but with Meyrin and Lacus on either side of her.

Once they were inside, Mu closed the doors. Kira was now being supported by Mu. Using one arm to support Kira, and using the other to call the doctor he had on standby, he lead Kira to his room.

"Mu... I can walk by myself..." Kira said as he stumbled up the stairs, trying to pull away from Mu's grasp. Mu tightened his grip.

"No way. I promised Lacus that I would take care of you, and I don't want to be the one to explain to both her and Cagalli that you passed out before we even made it to the doctor." Mu told him firmly. Kira soon gave up trying to break his grip, knowing he had a point. He had to tell him something, while they were alone.

"Mu..." Kira said in a low voice. He was about to continue, but Mu cut him off.

"What exactly happened, Kira?" He asked, a bit confused. "That was supposed to be an easy mission, and you, Athrun and that Rookie, Shinn, are the most skilled pilots I have ever known, and all three of you returned Injured!" Mu paused for a moment, but what Kira said next left him speechless.

"I felt him Mu... He was there... That same presence..." Kira turned to look him in the eye.

"Rau Le Cruset."

---------------------------

Well that took some time, I'm sorry for the delay, but I finally finished it.

* Mu cut his hair again after Gundam Seed Destiny. I even looked it up on the internet to make sure.

**VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**We really need people to review, and I know this isn't the best fan fic, but we would appreciate it if everyone reading this would at least put a review in. We've has 597 hits to this story but only 7 reviews. We need more motivation to post the upcoming chapters**


	5. Chapter 4: The First clue Revealed

_**A/N: hey I realise that some people got a bit cranky that I was going crazy about people reviewing, and I'm sorry. I agree that reviews aren't everything but I still try to make an effort to tell the author that I read the story and either liked or disliked the story. So sorry to all those who thought I was being too over bearing. **_

_**Just to let you know, we don't really know what is exactly happening in this story, so it's pretty much being made up as we go along. I've got chapter's 5 to 7 in hard copy from the author, so I'm gonna get on to them as soon as possible. **_

_**We have added a lot of funny parts into this story while still keeping each character as real as possible, which can be difficult, so please excuse us if we get some things wrong.**_

_**I also apologise for the lateness of this chapter, I was camping over the weekend and had no access to a computer or internet.**_

_**Thank you: **_

_**dragonfairy16 and Kiiroi Senko**_

_**for reviewing and I hope all of the readers out there like this chapter**_

_**Disclaimer: we do not own the Gundam series just bought the DVD's. **_

_**----**_

**Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds**

**Written By:**** Kairi Loves Sora**

**Co-Written By:**** Ldsprincess**

**Edited By****: Ldsprincess**

_Chapter 4: The First clue Revealed_

_**---------**_

_**Recap**_

"_How can you act like nothing happened?" She buried her face in his shirt, while gripping it with her hands. "Look at Athrun and Shinn! They were both injured! How is it that a mission to destroy the meteors resulted in the injury of them both?!" Cagalli began beating his chest, tears falling from her eyes. How could he act this way when everyone was worried sick about him?_

_With every hit, Kira moved a step back, until they hit the wall behind them. When Kira's back collided with the wall, he winced noticeably._

"_You just don't get it do you?!" She paused, taking a few shaky breaths. "We were so worried about you!"_

_She was about to hit him again, when she felt a hand restraining her. She turned to see Athrun holding her wrist._

"_Cagalli, calm down!" he said firmly yet comfortingly. "He's been through enough! We tried to get back as soon as we could."_

_Cagalli's eyes met Athrun's for a moment, and then looked away. She relaxed her fist and let go of Kira's shirt, feeling Athrun's release her wrist. She looked to Kira and saw him leaning heavily against the wall, with Lacus holding his shoulders. He was panting heavily and sweat was beginning to gather on his face. She clenched her fist again and felt something wet and sticky on her hand. She looked down and found that half of her hand was coated with blood. Her eyes widened as she looked back at Kira, to find that the front of his shirt was coated in the sticky substance. People began gathering around the group, and a few of them had begun to reach for the young Coordinator. Cagalli's eyes began filling with fresh tears as she looked to the ground._

"_Kira, I... I didn't know- I... You're..." She stammered, and, unable to form a coherent sentence, she fell to the floor._

_Athrun was the first to reach her, and gathered her into his arms. She turned to him and began crying harder into his chest._

_- - - - - - - _

"_Mu... I can walk by myself..." Kira said as he stumbled up the stairs, trying to pull away from Mu's grasp. Mu tightened his grip._

"_No way. I promised Lacus that I would take care of you, and I don't want to be the one to explain to both her and Cagalli that you passed out before we even made it to the doctor." Mu told him firmly. Kira soon gave up trying to break his grip, knowing he had a point. He had to tell him something, while they were alone._

"_Mu..." Kira said in a low voice. He was about to continue, but Mu cut him off._

"_What exactly happened, Kira?" He asked, a bit confused. "That was supposed to be an easy mission, and you, Athrun and that Rookie, Shinn, are the most skilled pilots I have ever known, and all three of you returned Injured!" Mu paused for a moment, but what Kira said next left him speechless._

"_I felt him Mu... He was there... That same presence..." Kira turned to look him in the eye._

"_Rau Le Cruset."_

_**End Recap**_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

**Chapter 4: The First Clue Revealed**

When the doctor arrived, he went up to the group out the back and asked the nearest person, who happened to be Luna, where his patient was. She then pointed in the direction that Mu and Kira had gone. He thanked her and began climbing the stairs. When he reached Kira's room, he opened the door to find him and Mu sitting in what appeared to be a shocked silence. Mu was staring at Kira with a look of both shock and unbelief, while Kira looked at the ground. He noticed that Kira's shirt was covered in blood and moved forward to assess his patient's wound. As he approached, Kira turned to him, nodded, and took off his shirt. Mu sat down next to him, but now appeared to be deep in thought.

"Kira... That's impossible. Murrue told me that you killed him. He can't be alive! There's no way...!" Mu said, as if trying to convince himself that it was in no way possible that the man that caused them all so much grief, was still among the living. Kira looked up at him.

"That's what I would have said, if I hadn't met Rey." Kira said, and lay down as the doctor indicated. The doctor began cleaning the wound, with only small moans of pain escaping Kira's lips. As he finished cleaning the wound, he began to stitch the gaping flesh together.

"Rey?" Mu trailed off, trying to think of whom the name belonged to. "Oh, isn't that Shinn's old partner that helped him to shoot down the Freedom? Wait!" He said after a moment's pause. "Didn't he die in the last battle? When the Requiem exploded?"

Mu looked to Kira, just to see the doctor place the last of the stitches in. Kira suppressed a wince. He then nodded in confirmation to Mu's statement.

"Yeah. He ended up saving my life. When I was sure I would have to shoot Durandal, Rey shot him instead. He started crying and asking if it was alright to want to have a tomorrow." Kira bowed his head. Mu looked at him curiously, wondering where he was going with this. "He was a clone of Rau La Cruset."

Mu's face took on a look of complete shock, as he leaned forwards a bit.

"You serious? Really?! Oh, man!" Mu sighed, his eyes holding restrained anger. The scar on his face became more predominant as his eyebrows scrunched together. He opened his mouth to speak, but the doctor cut him off.

"Sorry Sir, could you lift your arm please?" he asked, as he checked the young boy's mobility before pulling out a bandage to wrap the newly stitched wound. "Please keep it raised." He requested as he began the wrap the bandage securely.

"Sorry, sure." Kira obliged. He returned his gaze to Mu. "Mu, it was that very same presence. It was one of the reasons why Athrun, Shinn and I were injured."

"This is getting weirder and weirder." Mu stated as he searched for an answer to all this.

Both he and Kira turned to the door as a knock sounded, followed by the object swinging open, allowing Shinn to walk in. He looked a little bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Kira, I didn't mean to overhear the conversation, but I wanted to see if you were alright. And..." He paused. Kira nodded, encouraging him to continue. "I didn't want to say anything, because I thought it was my head playing tricks on me, but after what you said... I-I felt something too. The presence of Rey, my old team mate. I occasionally had these feeling s when I fought alongside him, but I always blew them off." As he finished, Kira turned to Mu.

"Mu, I don't think this could be ignored. Both Shinn and I felt the same thing." Kira said. Mu was silent for a moment.

"There you go sir." The doctor said cheerfully as he secured the bandage. "Now Kira," He began, as he started to put away his equipment. "I know this might be difficult for you, but I need you to not pilot the Freedom for at least 3-4 weeks. In addition, you need to get at least 2-3 days of complete bed rest. You have lost quite a fair amount of blood due to the depth of that wound, and your body needs to recover. I know that being a Coordinator means that your body is stronger than what us Naturals are capable of, but even your body needs a break after an experience like this." He gave Kira a knowing look, remembering when he treated him a year previous on the Archangel.

"Shinn..." The mentioned pilot turned to the doctor with a confused look. "I want you to tell Athrun this as well."

Shinn looked a bit confused. "Why?"

"I want both of you to make sure that he follows his doctor's orders." He could see a weak smile beginning to make its way onto the face of the young Coordinator they were speaking of.

"I hope you realise how next to impossible that may be." Mu decided to give his two cents worth. "You can't keep this Kid down for long." He said, clapping his hand gently on Kira's shoulder.

"Really?" Shinn hadn't known Kira personally for very long, and he didn't know much about him and his personal experience in battles, although he had briefly heard of some of them, and the results that followed.

"Yeah, this kid just won't stay still. Let's see if I can find an example..." Mu paused to see which of the many experiences he could choose from. As he did so, the doctor helped Kira to stand and put on a new light brown/bone, long sleeved shirt, and then picking up the bloodstained one and placing it in the basket by the door. "Oh, yes! I'll use that!" he turned once again to Shinn.

"You remember when you destroyed the Freedom?" Shinn nodded guiltily. "Well, Kira was in pretty bad shape when Cagalli returned with him. At that time I was on the ship as Neo at the time and at that time I didn't remember who I really was. Cagalli had explained to everyone that he had shut off all the power to the cockpit, and if he hadn't, he wouldn't be there. He was totally out of it when they put hem in the bed next to mine, he was quite badly hurt. The whole time he was unconscious, he was never without someone at his side, wishing him a speedy recovery." Kira paused from putting on a dark navy jacket and turned to him.

"Really?" he asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah," Mu replied, turning to him. "Your sister in particular. She was most likely the one who was there the most, she almost never left." He turned back to Shinn.

"When he finally woke up, someone had to always be in the room to stop him from getting up. And nothing would stop him from trying. The same occurred when Athrun and Meyrin were shot down, although Athrun was less guarded than Kira and when he first piloted the Infinite Justice, the idiot had reopened his wounds. And the Doc here can vouch for that, as he treated them both on the Archangel. " The doctor nodded.

As Mu finished his story, Shinn seemed to shrink with the guilt that had overcome him.

Kira, seeing the effect that this particular story had on the pilot, sought to comfort him. He placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Shinn looked up, tears in his eyes, and the undisguised guilt Kira saw in them had him smiling with sympathy.

"I know you feel that what you have done would never be able to be forgiven, but I have long forgiven you. No matter how serious an act may be nothing is unforgiveable." He spoke so calmly and truthfully that Shinn found that he couldn't help but believe his new friend.

"Thanks." He said with a small smile, and Kira's smile grew.

"You had to do it." Mu said, approaching the two. "I'll tell you this, I have done a lot of thongs in my life I'm not proud of either, and we've just got to put it behind us and keep on going."

"Thank you, both of you." Shinn looked from one face to another. "When I found out that Kira was the Pilot of the Freedom, I was surprised to say the least. And I was even more surprised to know that he was the same man I had met months before at the same spot, and that he welcomed me with open arms." He thought back to when Athrun introduced Kira to him after the war ended.

There was silence for a few minuets, then Kira glanced at the clock by the desk. They had been there for almost 45 minuets.

"We had better be getting back," kira suggested. "They're already worried, let's not make it any worse. I would like to request that all of you here, including you, doctor, that you do not repeat this to anyone, until we're completely sure." They all looked at him surprised, but nodded.

The doctor smiled mischievously and saluted him. "Yes Commander!"

"Don't call me that..." Kira sighed, but smiled all the same. He then followed Shinn and Mu out into the Hallway.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_**Hey, sorry if anyone got confused. By the way if anyone wants a pic of Athrun and Kira's Outfits then just let me know. I found it on the internet and decided to borrow it for the story. I couldn't pass it up.**_

_**As always, please review.**_

**_- - - - - - - - - - - - -_**

_**I feel like giving you all a treat:**_

_**Chapter 5: Celebrations and Complications (Preview)**_

"_**Are you sure you're okay?" Athrun asked, coming to stand directly beside Kira. "Shinn told me what the doctor said." Kira looked at him. "Do you think you're up to this? You did loose quite a bit of blood both on the Eternal and just now." Kira could see his eyes doing a quick scan of his outer appearance. He smiled reassuringly.**_

"_**I'm fine Athrun, really." He assured him. But unknown to Athrun, Kira's vision became blurry and fuzzy every now and again. **_

"_**If you say so. Just let me know if you need anything." He said rather reluctantly, not completely believing that his friend was as fine as he said. He turned and walked towards Cagalli, while making sure that he was within eyesight of his closest friend.**_

_**As Kira turned towards the group of people assembled in the courtyard, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.**_

"_**Haven't seen you for a while, Almighty Commander."**_

**_________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

_**Well that's my little treat for you. The editing might change, because I did that while I was half asleep, so it'll probably get better.**_


	6. Chapter 5: Celebrations and Complication

**A/N: hey thanks for the reviews, we're glad you are enjoying it. Good guesses to those who tried to guess the person in the preview. All will be revealed in this coning chapter. On May 9****th**** I was at an ANIMANIA festival!!!! I was there with some of my friends, including the author of this fan fic. I did karaoke and it was soooo cool!**

**There were two people dressed up as characters from Gundam Seed, Athrun and Yzak. I got a picture with them!!!!! I'm gonna be putting it on my profile on .**

**I also had my senior formal on May 29****th****!!!! It was soooo cool, I had so much fun and I got lots of pictures!**

**But thank you to all those who reviewed, once again, and I hope you keep reviewing, and telling your friends about this fic.**

******************************

***SPOILER***

**THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM GUNDAM SEED DESTINY. **

****************************  
**

**Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds**

**Written By:**** Kairi Loves Sora**

**Co-Written By:**** Ldsprincess**

**Edited By****: Ldsprincess**

_Chapter 5: Celebrations and Complications_

_**Recap**_

"_You remember when you destroyed the Freedom?" Shinn nodded guiltily. "Well, Kira was in pretty bad shape when Cagalli returned with him. At that time I was on the ship as Neo at the time and at that time I didn't remember who I really was. Cagalli had explained to everyone that he had shut off all the power to the cockpit, and if he hadn't, he wouldn't be there. He was totally out of it when they put hem in the bed next to mine, he was quite badly hurt. The whole time he was unconscious, he was never without someone at his side, wishing him a speedy recovery." Kira paused from putting on a dark navy jacket and turned to him._

"_Really?" he asked, a little surprised._

"_Yeah," Mu replied, turning to him. "Your sister in particular. She was most likely the one who was there the most, she almost never left." He turned back to Shinn._

"_When he finally woke up, someone had to always be in the room to stop him from getting up. And nothing would stop him from trying. The same occurred when Athrun and Meyrin were shot down, although Athrun was less guarded than Kira and when he first piloted the Infinite Justice, the idiot had reopened his wounds. And the Doc here can vouch for that, as he treated them both on the Archangel. " The doctor nodded._

************

"_We had better be getting back," Kira suggested. "They're already worried, let's not make it any worse. I would like to request that all of you here, including you, doctor, that you do not repeat this to anyone, until we're completely sure." They all looked at him surprised, but nodded. _

_The doctor smiled mischievously and saluted him. "Yes Commander!"_

"_Don't call me that..." Kira sighed, but smiled all the same. He then followed Shinn and Mu out into the Hallway._

_**End Recap.**_

Chapter 5: Celebrations and Complications

When Kira, Mu and Shinn returned to the large group of guests, they found Lacus and Cagalli waiting for them. As Mu and Shinn went to their respective C\companions, Lacus approached Kira with Cagalli following close behind her.

"Are you okay now Kira?" Lacus asked, as she kissed him on the cheek. He smiled warmly at her.

"All fixed up." He said, still smiling as he embraced her. He then turned when he heard a soft sound behind him. Cagalli was looking to the floor with a guilty look on her face. He released Lacus and began walking towards his sister. When he stood in front of her, he stopped.

"Kira…" Cagalli began softly, looking troubled. He smiled and embraced her.

"I'm sorry I worried you Cagalli." He said, as Cagalli embraced him in return.

"I'm the one that should be sorry!" She exclaimed, tears falling again. "I should have known you were hurt when the others came in with injuries! But… How could you hide it from us?!"

She looked up to his face when she felt his hand on her hair. He was still smiling warmly.

"I'm alright now Cagalli. I'll be 100% in no time." He said, releasing her. "You don't need to worry about me. You know I'll always come back. "

Cagalli took a step back, wiping her tears from her face and looked at him with her usual defiant/determined look.

"We can't help but worry about you! What with you and Athrun being so reckless out there, it's a wonder how you can still continue to fight the way you do!" She retorted.

He began to laugh softly, trying not to distress his wound. He and Cagalli then turned to the group surrounding them as they broke out in laughter at the childish banter.

"Tell you what," Athrun said, walking up and placing his hand on Kira's shoulder, as Birdie flew over from Lacus' shoulder to land on Cagalli's shoulder. Haro was bouncing in the background next to Lacus, oddly quiet. "How about next time, we call you as soon as things get tough. That way you'll know that we're not taking any unnecessary risks."

Cagalli gave him a sceptical look. "Like that would stop you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're always taking risks and getting hurt; the both of you. It would be nice if every once in a while you would think before you act…" she bowed her head.

"Birdie." The small robotic bird called as it jumped back and forwards.

"It'll be nice to know the current status of combat," Lacus stated as she stood once again beside Kira. "That would reduce the concern of injury in combat."

Cagalli smiled at them all, as Birdie and Haro called out their respective names.

"Sure." She turned to the rest of the group. "And now that you're here, Kira, we can start the party!"

Everyone cheered.

"Yeah, now that we have both the birthday boy _and_ the birthday girl," Dearka said as he jumped up behind the two and flung his arms over their shoulders. "We can really get this party started!" He gave them a goofy grin, and then began looking around as if searching for something, earning a confused look to be passed between Kira and Cagalli. "Now, where's the music?"

Dearka suddenly ran off in the direction of the house, leaving a confused group in his wake, as Athrun and Yzak both shook their heads at their long time friend and comrade ran off. Cagalli started laughing as Yzak walked off, calling after him. Lacus suddenly came and grabbed Cagalli's hand and pulled her towards the doors.

"Come on Cagalli! Let's go and get the food!" she exclaimed.

"O-okay…" she stuttered as she was dragged away.

Kira let out a soft chuckle, and turned to Athrun, who seemed to be analysing his movements carefully.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Athrun asked, coming to stand directly beside Kira. "Shinn told me what the doctor said." Kira looked at him. "Do you think you're up to this? You did loose quite a bit of blood both on the Eternal and just now." Kira could see his eyes doing a quick scan of his outer appearance. He smiled reassuringly.

"I'm fine Athrun, really." He assured him. But unknown to Athrun, Kira's vision became blurry and fuzzy every now and again.

"If you say so… Just let me know if you need anything." He said rather reluctantly, not completely believing that his friend was as fine as he said. He turned and walked towards Cagalli, while making sure that he was within eyesight of his closest friend.

As Kira turned towards the group of people assembled in the courtyard, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Haven't seen you for a while… Almighty Commander."

Kira turned at the familiar female voice and his eyes widened at the three figures approaching him.

"Miriallia, Sai, Kuzzy!" Kira exclaimed.

Miriallia waved with a smile, as Sai and Kuzzy gave him a warm smile.

"What, did you think that we wouldn't make it to one of our best friend's birthday party?" Miriallia said putting a hand on her hip in mock anger.

"Yeah, you couldn't have forgotten about us that easily, did you?" Sai agreed.

"No, it's just… I didn't expect you to be here!" Kira reasoned, shaking both Sai and Kuzzy's hands and received a hug from Miriallia. "But how have you all been?"

"We've been okay." Miriallia said as she led them towards some chairs, where they had been previously seated. "Though… it took me a while to track down those two." She indicated to Sai and Kuzzy, who grinned at each other.

"Although, to tell you the truth, " Sai began. I was a bit worried about you. It's never easy to be sitting on the sidelines and not knowing what was going on." All three of them looked down with identical looks on all their faces. "We all had to deal with that once before, and that was hard enough. But when you're not there, in the immediate area, like we were last time, the feeling is a hundred times worse." Sai turned to Kira, smiling once again.

"Guys…" Kira didn't know what to say.

"Although… I have to admit," Kuzzy chimed in, a grin appearing on his face as they all looked at him. "You should have seen Cagalli. Man, can she get worked up!" He began chuckling as Miriallia and Sai soon joined in.

"Yeah, she was running around everywhere, calling people to try and find you." Miriallia giggled. "It took Mu, Murrue, Lacus, Kisaka and us three to get her to sit down. And that was on the third try. The first time just the three of us tried, and she only sat down for a total of three seconds." She giggled once again. "You should have to admit, it was very funny!"

Kira didn't need any more information to form a mental image of Cagalli running around like they described. He couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I'm glad that my being 'Missing' brought you some merriment." He said sarcastically, which had them all break out in laughter. Kira was soon panting hard, holding his chest.

"Oh, please don't make me laugh!" He said in once he regained his breath.

The three continued to talk about what happened to everyone since they all separated. After some time, Kira, having found Lacus with Mu and Murrue, walked with her to greet the other guests. May of them he hadn't seen in years, like the leader of the Desert Dawn, Sahaib Ashman, whom greeted him with much gusto. Kira was also aware of Athrun shadowing him. He guessed that Shinn had already told him about what happened and about what the doctor said. No matter how old they seemed to het, some things just never change.

It was nearly sunset when Cagalli called for everyone's attention. By this time, Kira was feeling fairly tired, and it didn't help having Haro bouncing beside in calling; "There's a problem!"

When Cagalli motioned for him, he walked up to her, Athrun following and Lacus holding his hand, looking a bit confused.

"Now, this party, as you are already aware, is in honour of my brother's and my own birthday." An applause cut her off, with some hoots heard from certain individuals. After it died down, she continued. "But it is also because of each one of us has been helped in some way by Kira, and our lives change because of it. In return, we have all helped him grow to be the person standing before us now." She paused, looking back at Kira with infinite happiness in her eyes. She returned her gaze to the crowd. "We have one other person, whom has known both Kira and Athrun when they were both kids, and has helped Kira to reach is recent calling."

Kira looked at Athrun, confused by what Cagalli had said. Athrun's gaze, however, was focused intently on Cagalli, a vacant look on his face. Suddenly, something Cagalli had said brought a memory to the front of his mind.

"It couldn't be..." he said softly.

Athrun shot him a worried glance.

"_Does he know...?"_ he thought.

Haro suddenly bounced in front of Kira and Lacus.

"Surprise! Surprise!" it shouted. "Surprise is here!"

Kira looked to the door and suddenly a wide smile made its way onto his face. "Dammit!" Haro called as it bounced into Lacus' hands. Birdie cocked its head o Kira's shoulder and fluttered its wings.

"Tai! You always were bad at choosing hiding places... Get out here!"

Everyone's gaze was directed at the pot plant outside the door, barely concealing a male figure. Kira walked up to the door, Athrun close behind, as the figure came out from behind the plant. He has icy blue eyes with light strawberry blond hair with blond streaks showing here and there.

"Well it doesn't hurt to try..." He said as Kira reached him, and they shook hands. "For old times' sake."

Kira turned as he saw Haro flapping in Lacus' hands. "Good afternoon!" it called then jumped out of Lacus' hands to bounce on the spot in front of Tai. "Secret's out!"

Lacus giggled and Kira smiles, and then turned to the confused faces of Mu and the others, who had come forward and were looking on the scene with confusion.

"Tai went to the same Luna Prep School as Athrun and me, and we all went our separate ways soon before the war began. Athrun was called back to the PLANT's by his father, and Tai had to go home in Januarius City and he needed to be there for her. But some things just never change..." He said, turning to Tai, who had his hand behind his head and was giving a 'guilty' like chuckle.

"Still causing mischief and trouble for others...?" Athrun asked, shaking Tai's hand when he brought it back down.

"Well..." he smiled.

"We have some news for you Kira-" Cagalli began, smiling, but was cut off by Haro.

"Good News! Bad News!" it bounced on Kira's head and then into Tai's hands.

"Bad news?" Athrun asked, confused.

"For the both of you." Tai said with a smile, as Lacus came and retrieved Haro from his hands, and as she did, he nodded. She returned his gaze and walked inside. "Which would you like first, good or bad?"

"Bad news." Athrun responded, now very confused.

"Okay, the bad news is... that I have been stationed on the ZAFT ship Eternal!"

Athrun and Kira looked at each other, both wondering how this could be classified as bad news.

"That's great! But I don't understand how this is bad news-" Kira was broken off by Tai raising his hand.

"And now, the good news!" He turned to look behind him, and Kira could see Lacus coming back out with a small decorative box in her hands, Haro bouncing behind her. Kira looked from Lacus to Tai and back again. "I have been graciously given the privilege of awarding you with this..." He gestured for Lacus to come forward.

"Kira Yamato, Commander of the ZAFT ship Eternal, as a symbol of your courage, skill and determination, and also of your willingness to spare the lives of others, even in the face of death, your compassion, and your talents on the battle field and in strategising, we would like to commend you by passing you the rank of a FAITH member. We would be honoured if you would accept." He took the box from Lacus' hands and opened it to show Kira the small wing like badge.

"I-I don't know what to say!" he was speechless. He looked to Athrun and Cagalli, now side by side, and then to Lacus, who nodded with tears in her eyes. "I would be honoured to accept."

Tai smiled as he took the badge from the box and pinned it to Kira's jacket. Behind him, Kira could hear the cheering and applauding of the crowd as they congratulated him. From the house, the sound of a celebratory song could be heard throughout the yard. Laughter broke out amongst the entire group. When the laughter died down some, Athrun and Cagalli came up to him as Tai stepped back. Athrun slung an arm over Kira's shoulder, Birdie taking flight, and Cagalli embraced him.

"You deserve this Kira." Athrun said removing his arm. Cagalli stepped back to allow Lacus to embrace him. Kira suddenly knew why Athrun was so worried about him getting back okay.

"You knew about all this. You planned it all out. Both of you." He accused, smiling as he embraced Lacus. Athrun and Cagalli both laughed.

"Yeah, I knew. Do you know how hard it is to keep something a secret form you? I nearly blew it a couple of times though..." Athrun admitted. He turned to Tai. "By the way..." he said pulling Tai closer to him in a headlock. "You didn't tell me about you being stationed on the Eternal."

The menacing voice made Tai gulp. He looked at him side on from the corner of his eye. He mumbled something and then ducked out from under his arm and moved towards the food table as Athrun advanced.

"Don't hurt me... wait! What am I saying... you wouldn't hurt me... right?" he said as he straitened from his crouched position.

"You wanna bet." Athrun said as he took a step forward. Tai cried out and ran off in the opposite direction. Athrun returned to his place at Cagalli's side and turned o=to the questioning glances he received from the former Earth Alliance officers.

"I'll get him when he least expects it..." was all he said.

Kira walked towards the laughing group, still holding Lacus' hand, as Tai came up on the left.

"Thanks so much for this." He said as he shook Tai's hand once more. Lacus headed to Cagalli, Birdie landing on her shoulder.

"It wasn't me Kira. You earned this, and Lacus was the one who organised the majority of it. Your skills and actions in battle are what got you this, and your-"

"And my reputation as the best pilot of this time, and someone let slip that I happen to be the Ultimate Coordinator, and to poses the SEED. Yeah I have heard people talking about it." He turned away when Tai's eyes broke contact with his. Before he could continue his trek to the group, Tai gripped his shoulder.

"Kira..."

"I'll be back..." Kira broke out of Tai's grip and continued forward.

Tai called out to him, but he kept walking. Suddenly, Kira's vision split in two and he fell to the floor. Everyone crowded around him, Mu and Murrue had their gun out and at the ready, scanning the area. Athrun and Cagalli ran to Kira's side, as Lacus cradled his head in her lap. He could hear his name being called, and saw Lacus' face looking down at his worriedly, as his vision went black.

**Sorry it took so long, I've been really busy and I just haven't had enough time to finish.**

**As always, please review, we thrive on reviews and the more we get encouraged to write, the more we do!**

**917 hits!!!!!**

**Ja ne Minna**

**Ldsprincess**


	7. Chapter 6: The Assassination Part 1

A/N: hello Everyone!!!! I'm so glad we got so many people to view the story! It was a huge moral boost. I would like to thank

TheChocoholicOfAusten

kawaii_youkai04

Dragon Reverb

For your reviews, and the story is only going to get more weird and wonderful!

Sorry for the late update, but we've been on holidays and I have had 2 camps I needed to go to. Just to let you know one thing: IT WAS COOOOOLLLLLLDDDDDDD!!!!!! Okay enough from me!

ENJOY!

**************************

*SPOILER*

THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM GUNDAM SEED DESTINY.

**************************

Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

_Chapter 6: the Assassination Part 1_

_Recap_

"_Tai! You always were bad at choosing hiding places... Get out here!"_

_Everyone's gaze was directed at the pot plant outside the door, barely concealing a male figure. Kira walked up to the door, Athrun close behind, as the figure came out from behind the plant. He has icy blue eyes with light strawberry blond hair with blond streaks showing here and there._

"_Well it doesn't hurt to try..." He said as Kira reached him, and they shook hands. "For old times' sake."_

_Kira turned as he saw Haro flapping in Lacus' hands. "Good afternoon!" it called then jumped out of Lacus' hands to bounce on the spot in front of Tai. "Secret's out!"_

_Lacus giggled and Kira smiles, and then turned to the confused faces of Mu and the others, who had come forward and were looking on the scene with confusion._

"_Tai went to the same Luna Prep School as Athrun and me, and we all went our separate ways soon before the war began. Athrun was called back to the PLANT's by his father, and Tai had to go home to Januarius City. His mother was ill and he needed to be there for her. But some things just never change..." He said, turning to Tai, who had his hand behind his head and was giving a 'guilty' like chuckle._

"_Still causing mischief and trouble for others...?" Athrun asked, shaking Tai's hand when he brought it back down._

"_Well..." he smiled._

_********_

"_Okay, the bad news is... that I have been stationed on the ZAFT ship Eternal!"_

_Athrun and Kira looked at each other, both wondering how this could be classified as bad news._

"_That's great! But I don't understand how this is bad news-" Kira was broken off by Tai raising his hand._

"_And now, the good news!" He turned to look behind him, and Kira could see Lacus coming back out with a small decorative box in her hands, Haro bouncing behind her. Kira looked from Lacus to Tai and back again. "I have been graciously given the privilege of awarding you with this..." He gestured for Lacus to come forward._

"_Kira Yamato, Commander of the ZAFT ship Eternal, as a symbol of your courage, skill and determination, and also of your willingness to spare the lives of others, even in the face of death, your compassion, and your talents on the battle field and in strategising, we would like to commend you by passing you the rank of a FAITH member. We would be honoured if you would accept." He took the box from Lacus' hands and opened it to show Kira the small wing like badge._

"_I-I don't know what to say!" he was speechless. He looked to Athrun and Cagalli, now side by side, and then to Lacus, who nodded with tears in her eyes. "I would be honoured to accept."_

_******_

_Kira walked towards the laughing group, still holding Lacus' hand, as Tai came up on the left._

"_Thanks so much for this." He said as he shook Tai's hand once more. Lacus headed to Cagalli, Birdie landing on her shoulder._

"_It wasn't me Kira. You earned this, and Lacus was the one who organised the majority of it. Your skills and actions in battle are what got you this, and your-"_

"_And my reputation as the best pilot of this time, and someone let slip that I happen to be the Ultimate Coordinator, and to poses the SEED. Yeah I have heard people talking about it." He turned away when Tai's eyes broke contact with his. Before he could continue his trek to the group, Tai gripped his shoulder._

"_Kira..."_

"_I'll be back..." Kira broke out of Tai's grip and continued forward._

_Tai called out to him, but he kept walking. Suddenly, Kira's vision split in two and he fell to the floor. Everyone crowded around him, Mu and Murrue had their gun out and at the ready, scanning the area. Athrun and Cagalli ran to Kira's side, as Lacus cradled his head in her lap. He could hear his name being called, and saw Lacus' face looking down at his worriedly, as his vision went black._

_***********_

Chapter 6: The Assassination Part 1

Cagalli was pacing around the Office she was given while she was on the PLANT's. In front of her was Captain Murrue Ramius and Captain Mu La Flaga. The reason they were here was because of something that had occurred almost two weeks ago, at the birthday party.

_Flashback_

_Minutes after Kira had passed out, an ambulance arrived, and he was soon rushed to the emergency room of the hospital. Mu and Murrue had accompanied Kira to the hospital, along with Athrun, Lacus, Cagalli and Meyrin. Mu and Murrue still held their guns at the ready, and Athrun had taken their lead and pulled out his own gun as a precaution, though from what, he did not know._

_Upon arrival at the hospital, Lacus spoke to the staff and informed them that the recovery of the Commander was being made a top priority, and that they were to expend all their best efforts to ensure his recovery. Throughout this, Cagalli eyed the two captains as they lowered their weapons, but did not relax their hold._

_End Flashback_

Since then, they had both taken it upon themselves to stand guard over her brother's room, day in and day out, taking small shifts when they needed sleep. Now was the only time she was able to get them alone, after posting Kisaka and Meyrin at the doors.

The younger officer turned to them with a thoughtful frown on her face. She had questioned them on their decision to bring the weapons to the celebrations but had yet to receive a strait answer.

"If there was a problem with security, you could have informed us and we would have upped the man count. Why are you hiding things from Lacus and me? If it's that important as to bring firearms to a party, than you'd think it'd be important enough to let the Chairwoman and his Sister, who is in fact the current leader of Orb and it's military, know so we could take the necessary steps to prevent it!" She said as she stood tall before the older and, admittedly, more experienced officers.

Mu sighed, there was no way that she was going to let this go. In many ways, she was just like her brother, but in others, she was the complete opposite. Where Kira spoke softly and rarely used forceful words and actions, Cagalli would lash out and would often act without thinking things through. The two were defiantly two halves of one whole. Mirror images of each other.

He looked at Murrue and she nodded, indicating that it was time to tell her.

"I'll tell ya what, you are one stubborn princess." Cagalli growled at this. Mu's face suddenly changed in to a serious expression as he looked at her from side on.

"There have been some rumours going around the military lately, that someone wants Kira out of the way...permanently."

Cagalli's reaction was one of shock. Before she could say anything, Murrue spoke.

"But it's not only Kira they are after; but Athrun, Lacus and you. We have learned that you four are the primary targets of the group, we believe, was responsible for the attack on Kira and the others while completing the mission to destroy the meteors." Murrue finished with a serious tone and face, her chin resting on her interlocked fingers. Cagalli stuttered for a moment. "We felt it necessary to carry weapons for the protection of the four of you."

Cagalli looked down as the two stared at her.

"Why is it that we are always being thrust into the midst of pain and hatred?" They all turned to the door in surprise at the soft voice. "Conflict is something we are becoming all too familiar with. The pain and suffering brought about by the ambitions of others, and the never ending sorrow that is the result of such actions. Is the only way we can move forward in life, brought about by the death of another? Sometimes I wonder..." Lacus looked down as the door closed softly behind her, a sad expression on her face. "If we really have learned from the mistakes made in the past..."

"Times really haven't changed... no matter how advanced we may be..." Cagalli added.

"Miss Murrue, Captain La Flaga," Lacus turned to face them, addressing them as the leader of the PLANT's. "What was the reason behind your actions?"

Murrue was about to respond, when Mu held up his hand.

"We had witnessed a forced landing on one of the PLANT Landing Dock's as we were arriving. We sent two officers in to gather intelligence on the matter, and we received a communication from them as we were arriving at your home. They said that they were unable to gather much information without being attacked, just that one of the men said this: 'Arrival stage complete. The plan is in motion, if all goes well we will be able to move into phase 2 of Broken Wings! Make sure they do not survive!'." Mu ran a hand through his hair. "They had to withdraw from the area, unless they wanted to be spotted and attacked, an act that we agreed on and we advised them to return to the ship as soon as possible to report any additional information."

Lacus looked at them both and then looked to Cagalli. She too wore an expression of disbelief and horror. Lacus knew that if this had indeed occurred, she would have been notified of it immediately, yet why was she only finding out about it now?

"Would you please care to explain why this information was kept from my knowledge?" she asked her voice calm despite all the emotion she felt inside.

"We made the decision not to inform you just moments before we spoke with you, upon our arrival." Murrue spoke softly and yet firmly. She could see how this information was impacting on the two young leaders before her.

"We don't know what they are planning, or even who 'they' are. But what we do know is that the four of you are in more danger now than you were before. It's no real surprise that people would go after the four of you, what with being the four individuals who ultimately brought about the end of both the first and second Bloody Valentine wars. The loss of any one of you would be a huge blow to the people of both the Earth and the PLANT's. We felt it was necessary at the time, and for the results of our decision, we apologise, but we do so knowing full well that we would do it again if the situation required it." Murrue finished, bowing her head in an apologetic motion, her eyes holding personal emotions, instead of the military front. "We wouldn't be able to justify the responsibility that we would feel if anything were to happen to any of you, knowing full well we could have prevented it."

Cagalli looked from Murrue, to Mu and back again, tears in her eyes. Mu winked at her and Lacus, his usual boyish grin on his face. She couldn't believe the depth of loyalty they showed to them, only knowing them all for a short span of 2 years. But admittedly, the two adults that sat before her had somehow become a part of her family, and evidently, her theirs.

"From now on," Murrue continued, "we will be placing Mu at Kira's door. He needs as much rest as possible, and he can't have that with too many visitors, unexpected or no." She thought back to the incident a few days before hand, where Tai had tried to force his way into Kira's room after hours.

"Agreed, we must see to his immediate recovery. This is something that needs to be discussed with both him and Athrun present." Lacus stated, Cagalli nodding beside her. "I'm going to visit him tomorrow; we need to know all that happened during the attack with the meteors. Athrun will also need to report on what happened. After we speak with Kira, we'll talk to Athrun, and as soon as we're done, we'll let them know about the information we received."

Mu nodded as he stood to leave.

*******

"Okay, we can't risk Kira being in one spot for too long," Tai said, as they gathered around a map of the hospital. "I have a feeling that something is going to happen, and it does not gonna be good. So tomorrow... We're gonna break him out of there!"

Tai, Shinn and Athrun were seated at a nearby restaurant, discussing the situation surrounding Kira. It had been almost two weeks since he had been admitted to the hospital, and admittedly, both Athrun and Shinn were getting fidgety. It had been way too quiet since the attack. Athrun had gone to get them drinks, and was heading back as Tai spoke.

"You really think that's gonna work?" Shinn said looking at him strangely. "You do realise that Captain La Flaga will be there?"

"That won't be a problem!" Said Tai happily.

"Why not?" Athrun came up behind him. He was having the same feeling. After the display made during the mission they were assigned that day, things had been too quiet. He knew something was going to happen soon. "I know you don't know him that well, but you've seen him when you've tried to get in before. He's that and worse when you get on his bad side."

"Like I said that won't be a problem..." he held a mischievous look in his eye, one that Athrun knew all too well, and one that made him groan at the thought of what he was gonna do next.

"We'll use the Air Vents!"

******

The next day, Athrun was waiting at the entrance to the hospital. They had agreed that the entrance was to be their meeting point, and then they would use the air vent in the Cleaners cupboard. Although, why he agreed on this was beyond him.

Once the three had arrived at the cupboard, Tai began to pull off the cover for the vents, and then gestured for Shinn and Athrun to follow.

Unbeknownst to the three, Lacus and Cagalli were on their way to see Kira as they were entering the air vents. The two young leaders made their way to the blond Captain as he kept a constant visual on the recovering Commander.

"Can we see him now Captain?" Lacus asked. He nodded and opened the door, and informed Kira of his visitors.

--- --- ---

"Can someone please tell me why we decided to let Shinn lead again?" Asked Tai, frustrated over the arrival of their _Third_ dead end.

"Well it's better than arriving at the ladies room _Twice_." Athrun responded from his place at the back of the procession. "Not to mention the laundry room, and almost giving the nurses a heart attack."

"Okay so I made a few mistakes, but it's nothing to get all worked up over!" Shinn called from the front. Tai heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Why don't you let me lead for a while, give you time to sort out the nasty print on your face?" Tai suggested as he caught a glimpse of the red hand print that Shinn was sporting. The aforementioned teen rubbed his cheek, remembering the force of the slap he received after managing to make his way to the ladies rest rooms the second time.

"Oh yeah, there's a brilliant idea." Athrun said sarcastically. "That's all we need, to find ourselves in that old ladies room _again_!"

_---- Flashback – 20 min ago ---_

"_Come on it's this way!" Tai called to the others. His cheerful attitude was beginning to get annoying. They came to a ventilation grate and Tai paused. "According to my map I studied last night, we should be just inside his room!" _

_He kicked open the air vent and jumped out, followed closely by Shinn. As he landed, Shinn looked around the room._

"_You know, I want to thank you Tai," Shinn said. Tai turned to him._

"_What for?"_

"_For reminding me that I needed to visit this wonderful elderly lady as soon as I got the chance." Shinn replied as he bowed politely to the elderly lady who sat with a bewildered expression on her face. Once she got over the initial shock, she smiled and bowed in return._

"_He, he, he..." Tai laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head. He pushed Shinn back to the air vent, before climbing in after him. "So sorry Ma'am. Let's go find Kira now, shall we?"_

_After that, they had somehow made their way back to the same room an additional 3 times. On their fourth visit, Shinn finally stepped forward._

"_Alright! That's it! I'm going to lead from now on. If we let Tai lead any longer, it'll be Kira's wedding before we make it there!" he said as he stormed, well, as best he could in the tiny enclosed space, to the front of the group._

_---- End Flashback----_

"Okay, so I'm not perfect, but at least we got a few cookies from our last visit!" Tai retorted as he shook off the last remaining crumbs off his face.

"Okay, this time, I'm sure this is his room!" Shinn declared as he kicked open the vent. Athrun decided that he was going to go out first this time, and as Shinn observed him, he paused in his attempt to follow as Athrun froze.

"Sorry Yzak, Dearka... Shinn got the wrong room again." Athrun sent a glare to the aforementioned soldier which had him shrinking back further into the vent. Since he had become Athrun's friend, he had grown to respect him, and whereas the younger him would have mouthed off at Athrun, the present found it difficult to do so. "You wouldn't happen to know where Kira's room would be by any chance?"

"To the left and down the hall, two rooms down..." Dearka said cocking his head to the side. Yzak seemed to be speechless for the first time in a while. "Why do you need to know?"

Tai's head suddenly popped out the new opening in the vent, smiling widely.

"We're gonna break him out!" He said happily.

The way he said it was a bit too casual for Dearka's liking, and with that, Athrun climbed back into the vent, saying: "Okay, this time, I'm leading. That way, there will be no repeats!"

He looked to Yzak, who seemed to be recovering from the sight of Athrun crawling out of an Air vent, when he heard something that didn't seem to make any sense to him…

"You see, I was closer than Shinn was! That old ladies room was just three doors up from Kira's!"

Yzak's eyes met Dearka's for a moment, and, after saying a quick farewell to the patient in the room, they both crawled in after them.

"Tell me… why are we following them?" Yzak suddenly asked. Dearka shrugged.

"I dunno… but I wanna know what's going on." He replied. Yzak scowled at this.

"If you tell anyone…" He left the threat hanging, but all Dearka did was smile and say: "Not a word."

As they approached the three in front of them, Athrun kicked open the vent with a loud crash. As they began to crawl out one by one, they were unprepared for the welcome party.

"Are you boys completely insane?!" Cagalli yelled at them, causing even to Yzak flinch. "Kira is trying to sleep! Can't you be a little more considerate?!"

Tai and Shinn thought it was probably in their best interest not to point out that it was Cagalli who was screaming at the top of her lungs. They did have a sense of self preservation; after all, they never covered this in survival training…

"What are you two doing here?" Athrun asked. He noticed Haro bouncing beside Kira's head, surprisingly quiet as Lacus looked at them curiously with Birdie on her shoulder. "I thought Mu said no one was allowed to come here till he was discharged…"

Cagalli tapped her foot impatiently, as Lacus watched with curiosity as Yzak and Dearka made their way out of the vent.

"Number 1: We asked him to, number 2: why were you crawling around in an air vent anyway?" Cagalli answered as she noticed Yzak and Dearka's presence in the room.

Athrun filled in the girls and the two new additions to their procession on the plan to get Kira out, as well as their reasoning.

"Well it does make sense. Having Kira in one place for too long would create an easy target…" Lacus said thoughtfully.

"There's just one thing I wanted to mention, you seemed to be able to get in okay… but how were you expecting to get out with an unconscious Kira?" Cagalli noted. "There is no way you would be able to get him out the door, which would defeat the purpose of using the air vents to get in."

Tai opened his mouth to answer her, but hesitated. He then shrank back into a thinking pose.

"You know… I never really got that far…" They all hung their heads at his answer. How did this clown ever end up becoming a Faith Pilot? "To be completely honest, I didn't think we'd make it this far!" He added, laughing nervously.

"Cagalli."

Cagalli turned to face Lacus, her expression unreadable.

"I think it's time told them what we know." Lacus looked to all the faces in the room, before resting her gaze on Athrun. Cagalli nodded, eyes solemn, as she began…

"So the four of us are the targets of some mysterious group, the same group that had attacked us two weeks ago?" Athrun confirmed. Lacus nodded.

'_It's all happening again… why can't we just be left alone so we can live in peace for more than a year this time?'_ He thought to himself.

As they all contemplated the information they had received, they suddenly found themselves fighting to keep their balance as the building shook with enough force to send items flying off the nearby shelves. Haro bounced furiously around the room, crying: "There's a problem! Haro! Watch out!".

"Wha-What's happening?" Cagalli called.

"It can't be an earthquake. We never have them on the PLANT's!" Lacus said as she fell to her knees, gripping the sheets on Kira's bed. Haro had now come to the bed and was bouncing on the bed. Birdie took flight and flew out the window.

"Is it a meteor?" Shinn asked.

As soon as the words were said, the shaking stopped. As Athrun regained his balance, he caught something from the corner of his eye.

"It was too short to be a meteor, and I'm guessing it was those that caused it." He said as he turned fully to look out the window.

Cagalli and Tai ran to the window as the shaking started again. What they saw had them stepping back in shock. Outside the window were 5 mobile suits, two Earth Alliance and three ZAFT machines, firing at the base of the hospital.

"What are ZAFT machines doing firing at a hospital?" Cagalli asked aloud.

Kira had told her and Lacus how they had been attacked by mobile suits belonging to all three of the Militaries, and she couldn't understand how and why the ORB military would go against its principles, in addition to her not knowing about any of it. Nor could she believe that ZAFT would turn on its political leader.

"This is what happened before… I knew it had been too quiet for-" Athrun paused when he felt Shinn's hand on his shoulder. "What is it Shinn?"

"Did you feel that… it was like a pull…" Shinn trailed off. Athrun looked confused, Shinn shook his head. "Never mind… Anyway, we need to get Kira out of here." He turned his attention to the sleeping Commander.

"That is going to be difficult." Lacus said as she brushed Kira's bangs from his eyes. "Mu won't let him be moved from the room now that an attack has been made, however, keeping him here is out of the question."

"You know, we could always get someone to jump out the window and then get him to catch Kira…" Yzak said, contemplating the idea. Cagalli looked like she was going to say something; however, Athrun beat her to it.

"We are _not_ throwing Kira out of the window, Yzak"

"Why not? Just think, it's the fastest way out, and I don't see you coming up with any idea's."

"I'd rather not be turned into a pancake, if you don't mind. No matter how good you may be at catching me…" All of their eyes went to the bed as Kira sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked about the room. "Although, if I wasn't still recovering, that would have been a good plan."

"Kira! Welcome back to the Land of the Living!" Tai said waving at him. "But I think all this will have to wait, because the fact still remains, how are we going to get out of here?" He said rather seriously despite the goofy grin that was present on his face.

"Why don't we go back out the way we came in?" Shinn suggested.

"There's just a small problem with that idea Shinn." Tai said. "If you in any way recall our trip getting in, we got lost a lot."

"Yeah, but if we are aiming to get out without anyone noticing us, getting lost would be a good thing." Shinn said a slight bit nervously. He looked to Kira for reassurance, to see him smiling and nodding in agreement with his idea.

"Okay, well it looks like we've got our plan, so let's get going." Kira said as he began moving to the open air vent. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, which he identified to be Cagalli's by the way she grabbed him.

"Are you crazy Kira!?" She yelled, causing him to turn. "You are still recovering and crawling around in that cramped space would only make things worse!" She yelled at her stupid brother.

"Cagalli, I know your worried, but we've got to do something, and Shinn's plan not only gets us out, but confuses them, because they have no idea where we would pop out of next. Besides, if we stay here, we'll all be dead." He said calmly.

She backed up, as the reality of what he said set in, as another shock ran through the building. They had to get out of there now, or who knows what will happen. Kira turned to Athrun.

"Athrun, could you give me a boost?" he asked as he stopped at the air vent.

Athrun kneeled down and created a vault boost with his hands. Kira placed his foot in his hands and Athrun carefully hoisted him up, followed by Cagalli and Lacus, himself, Yzak, Dearka, Shinn and Tai.

"Okay, we need to remember that we need to be quiet." Kira reminded them as they began their trek through the vent. "The slightest noise could alert them to our whereabouts."

A few minutes after they had been climbing through the vents, Haro, whom had been surprisingly quiet since the first attack, suddenly started bouncing next to Lacus.

"I won't accept that! I will not accept that!" It called loudly.

"Haro!" Athrun called/whispered, trying to quiet the robotic ball. Haro, however, continued to spill phrases loudly.

"There's a problem! Lacus! I don't wanna!"

"Mr. Pink, please. You need to be quiet now!" Lacus chided urgently, holding a finger to her mouth in a 'shh' manner.

"Would you shut that thing up!? They're gonna find us!" Yzak whispered to the pink haired girl in front of them.

Just then, they heard a gunshot sound as a graze appeared on Yzak's cheek. Before anyone could react, a bullet came from where Kira was about to put his hand and lodged itself into the ceiling above where his head had been seconds earlier.

"That can't be good…" Tai said at the sudden firing. "Move! Move!"

They all began to move swiftly through the vents, occasionally missing some bullets by millimetres, and making a couple of turns, when Kira chose an opening at random and propelled himself out of the vent. Because of the momentum, Kira fell out and landed on the ground with a thud, rolling over just in time to miss the avalanche of bodies falling to the floor of the girl's bathroom.

Once he recovered, he sat up, rubbing the back of his head and looked around for the others. Athrun had landed on the floor on his back beneath Dearka, who had landed with his face in Athrun's chest, Yzak, whom was half hanging out of the pile and to top the pile was Shinn. Lacus and Cagalli had landed a little less gracefully than the boys. Cagalli had appeared to have tumbled out of the vent, rolled across the floor to halt against the wall in a rather uncomfortable position. That being her lying upside down against the wall with her legs down past her head. Lacus had rolled across the floor only to hit her head against the sink on the opposite side of the room. As she sat up, she rubbed her head, Haro bouncing next to her, saying: "Is that so?"

"Is everyone okay?" Kira asked, getting to his feet.

Lacus stopped rubbing her head, nodded and picked up Haro as she stood. Cagalli, with a small amount of difficulty, righted herself. Holding a hand over her face, Lacus stifled a giggle, as Cagalli sent her a glare.

"I'm soooo glad that I wore pants today…" She muttered, which was a little weird, considering Kira had only ever seen her wear a dress three times in his life, and all three of those times, she had been in a cranky mood. He smiled and looked to the mound of bodies, as a grunt was heard from the pile, identified as Athrun.

"Well I'm not okay…" Came his muffled voice from under the bodies. "Can you three get off of me!?"

"I wish I could…" Dearka's voice also came out as muffled, as his face was being smothered by Athrun's chest. "Yzak's on top of me…"

"Well I'd move if this bastard wasn't on top of me!" Ysak yelled, ticked off at the complaining and the manner of which they had landed.

"Sorry…" Shinn said as he made to get off. His apology was ignored as the three yelled at him to get off. Shinn scrambled to get off and made to help them up. Yzak, of course declined and gruffly removed himself from the pile and dusted off his uniform. As he helped Athrun up, Athrun stretched his back.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked as he cracked his back. Kira laughed at the scene, however, he stopped when he noticed that one member of the group was missing.

"Where did Tai go?" He asked as he began looking around.

He heard a toilet flush behind him, and as he turned, he saw Tai walk out of the cubical. Everyone stared as he walked to the sink and began to wash his hands, while humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star**. When he finished, he dried his hands, but froze when he saw everyone staring at him.

"What?" He asked as he threw the towel away."When you gotta go, you gotta go!"

Cagalli rolled her eyes at this, but Athrun was still confused.

"What was with the humming?" He asked.

"Oh… that… There's this health Law and it says that the amount of time it takes to properly wash your hands, hygienically, is the equivalent amount of time as singing 'Happy Birthday' or 'Twinkle Twinkle'!" He said happily as he waved his now clean fingers in the air. "You never know what kinds of germs are in a bathroom!"

Cagalli looked at him as if he were insane. Coordinators don't get sick very easily, so why is he stressing about proper hygiene practices?

"Okay... That aside... What should we do now?" Dearka asked as everyone recovered from the episode.

"Why don't we just use the hallways?" Yzak suggested. "They'll all be at Kira's room by now, and they won't expect us to be moving about in the open."

"You know, that's a good plan..." Cagalli agreed. The logic was sound and she couldn't argue with that. Athrun walked to the door to check the hallways.

"It's all clear." He said as he led the group through the door and into the hallway.

Not one sound was heard as they walked towards the elevator. Although they could use the stairs, the elevator was much faster and offered more protection with the steel doors. When they reached it, Kira suddenly felt a pull, the same one he felt during the battle...

"Come on, come on, come on!" Athrun chanted impatiently as he pushed the down button repeatedly. They all looked around for any enemies, and when the doors opened, they all turned to find guns pointed at them. Ore more specifically, at one.....

Whew! Finally i finished!!!!!!!! Sorry it took so long guys, but my computer has a stupid parental control thing on it!!!! Stupid brothers and their downloading things they shouldn't......... but anyway i hope you liked this chapter and as always:

REVIEW!!!!!!!

** in Australia, because of the swine flu influenza, new laws have been put in place for child care workers, and that is that all carers and children, when washing hands, must either sing or hum either Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Happy Birthday... workplace health and safety.... I just thought it was funny....


	8. Chapter 7: The Assassination Part 2

A/N: apparently we didn't get a good response from the last chapter, and the KLS has pleaded with me to hold the story "RANSOM", to see how many people actually want us to continue the story… And just to let you Know…. **It's my Birthday in 2 Weeks!!!!** I'm gonna be 18!!!!!!!!! WOW… the funny thing is, I still feel 16……

Just for your information, thanks to my stroke of genius, the "Twinkle Twinkle" scene in the previous chapter is now stuck in KLS's head and she won't let me live it down! Hope you all liked it as much as I did!!!

Just letting you know of an awesome fic that has been giving confidence to the author of this fic and inspires her to keep going!

_GUNDAM SEED DESTINY: KIRA_

It's an awesome story and I've been following it for a while now, gripping my seat the whole time! If you like this story, you'll like this one better!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: we do not own Gundam Seed or anything close to any anime show, all we own is the story we are writing, and we're just borrowing the names and etc. sorry……………

**************************

*SPOILER*

THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM GUNDAM SEED & GUNDAM SEED DESTINY.

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Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

_Chapter 7: The Assassination Part 2_

_************** *****************_

_Previously:_

"_Why don't we just use the hallways?" Yzak suggested. "They'll all be at Kira's room by now, and they won't expect us to be moving about in the open."_

"_You know, that's a good plan..." Cagalli agreed. The logic was sound and she couldn't argue with that. Athrun walked to the door to check the hallways._

"_It's all clear." He said as he led the group through the door and into the hallway._

_Not one sound was heard as they walked towards the elevator. Although they could use the stairs, the elevator was much faster and offered more protection with the steel doors. When they reached it, Kira suddenly felt a pull, the same one he felt during the battle..._

"_Come on, come on, come on!" Athrun chanted impatiently as he pushed the down button repeatedly. They all looked around for any enemies, and when the doors opened, they all turned to find guns pointed at them. Ore more specifically, at one....._

_End Preview_

************ ************

… Kira.

As soon as they saw the men in the elevator, Athrun, Shinn and Cagalli, who were in front of Kira and Lacus, pulled out their guns, as did Yzak and Dearka who were pulling up the rear, and held them at the ready, aiming at the men before them. Tai had run off to find another exit and was yet to return. Kira held Lacus close as he looked around trying to find a way to escape, Haro bouncing beside them.

"Kira…?" Lacus asked, looking up at him. He looked back at her with soft eyes.

"We'll be okay…" He assured her. But just as he spoke, another voice made him turn to the men aiming at them.

"Now, now boys and girls, I thought you all hated conflict? So how about you put those dangerous toys away and hand over Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne?" Came a sickeningly sweet female voice from the centre of the group. She was speaking to them as a parent would to a 2 year old child. Cagalli and Yzak scoffed.

"It's true we don't condone violence and encourage conflict to be the answer to all our problems, but you don't expect us to be walking around unprotected when there are those who wish us harm?" Cagalli said, cutting off Yzak before he could deal the damage.

"And what makes you think that we would just hand them over to you like some gift?" Shinn asked, his face and voice hard with determination and defiance he exhibited many times in the war. The woman stepped forward, her face half concealed in shadow, her only distinguishable feature, was the white blond hair that made her appear paler than normal.

"Little boy, we outnumber you 12 to 5. Personally, I wouldn't risk the odds if I were on your end. And I believe you don't have a choice in the matter." As she spoke, Athrun took note that none of the men took their eyes, or their guns, off his childhood friend. Just what were they after…?

************** 

Meanwhile, outside Kira's room, Mu had heard the gunshots and was currently trying to get into the room. Murrue had just arrived with the reinforcements he called, and ordered two of them to help him break in the door. As the door caved, Murrue ran into the room, with Mu hot on her heels.

"Kira! Cagalli! Lacus!" Mu called as they ran into the room. He stopped when he saw the empty bed and open windows. Murrue ran to the window and looked out of it, then, turning back to the room, she began issuing orders.

"You three," She gestured to the three closest to her. "I want you to climb down this window and see if you can find where they went! If this attack was made by the same group that are after Kira, then things have just gotten more complicated than we thought! Hurry-!"

"There's no need for that." Mu said calmly. Murrue looked to him questioningly. "They're not outside… Stupid Kids!" he said as he kicked the cover for the Air vent.

Murrue looked behind him and saw the open air vent and, calling her troops to follow, followed Mu out, knowing that there'll be Hell to pay for the group they were looking for.

**************

"Please! This is a hospital!" Lacus said sternly. "Can't we settle this in a through a more diplomatic course- Ahhh!" she was cut off as a bullet hit the floor at her feet. She cried out as Kira pulled her behind him, and Athrun raised his gun higher.

"What exactly do you want with us?" Kira asked, controlling his breathing as his vision blurred as the corners for a moment. Even after several weeks, he still wasn't well enough to be up and moving around. He really overexerted himself by running before. Lacus looked at him with concern.

"You know why child… Via Hibiki knew, and now so do you…" They could practically taste the sugar in her voice and feel the sneer on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Athrun yelled, trying to draw their attention away from Kira. "Kira's mother died when he was a baby, he never even knew her!"

"Kira!"

Everyone turned to the hallway to the left as Mu's voice called from the distance. In the moment of distraction, Athrun jumped into action. He ran forwards and kicked the female in the stomach, forcing her to fall on the men behind her. Then, in a fluid motion, he shot the light and as the shards rained down on their attackers, the doors rolled shut and he shot the control panel on the wall.

"Quickly! That won't hold them for long! He said as he turned back to the group as they heard another gunshot.

Tai ran around the corner as another attacker fell to the floor, sporting a nasty wound to the shoulder and a large bump on the head.

"I think we'd better go!" He said as he made his way to the group.

"Elevators out of the question." Shinn said, gesturing to the aforementioned object of transportation.

"Yzak, Athrun, give me a hand with this!" Dearka said as he pushed a nearby vending machine towards the elevator. Meanwhile, Lacus and Cagalli lowered Kira to the floor, as he leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Are you alright Kira?" Cagalli asked. He nodded his head.

"I'll be fine… let's just get out of here while we have the chance…." He said. Lacus placed a hand on his cheek and Haro bounced into his lap.

"Wanna see me cranky?"

Kira chuckled. "Not now Haro…"

"Is that so?"

"Dearka! The elevator opens side ways, not out, you idiot!" Yzak yelled at him, gaining the attention of the two girls and Kira.

"It's not for that! Just do it! It'll slow them down at least!" he replied as he began to push it onto it's side, Athrun caught on to what he was trying do do and helped him to block the doorway.

"And what do you think your doing?" came a painfully familiar voice. As they all turned towards the voice, they saw Luna standing against the wall.

"Luna! What are you doing here?" Athrun asked, slightly upset at how many people were being dragged into this, the number of casualties that could occur. Luna, however, ignored him as she brushed passed him, only to stop dangerously close to Shinn.

"Shinn, you said that you were going to meet my parents tonight!" she yelled at him, although that explained why she was dressed in smart-casual clothing. Shinn flinched away from her. "What have you been doing? You were supposed to meet me an hour ago!"

"Umm…" He looked back at the others for support.

"This is all yours mate!" Dearka said with a smile.

At that exact moment, the elevator chimed as it reached the floor once more, bringing with them their attackers.

"Look, there's no time for this! Let's move!" Cagalli commanded, taking control of the situation. She pulled Kira up and she and Lacus helped to support him as they ran down the hall, Shinn grabbed Luna, calling: "I'll explain everything later!" as he pulled her along. As they ran, they could hear the voices of the men in the elevator.

"Hurry and move this thing!" yelled one gruffly.

"Is she still out?"

"Yeah, we'd better move quickly!"

As their voices faded, Kira felt the pull again. After a few minuets, Kira stopped, leaning against a wall.

"I… I don't think… I can go much further…" he said as he breathed heavily. Lacus held his hand as she moved his sweaty bangs from his face.

"Alright then…" Tai sighed as he moved in front of Kira and bent down. "Come on, hop on. We don't have much time."

"But… Tai, I don't think…-" he was cut off as he suddenly found himself flung onto Tai's back. Tai stood up and began to run.

"Come on! The last one out of this stinking Hospital is as stupid Natural! No offence Cagalli!" He yelled as he started running down the hall. They all stared after him in shock for a moment, but they were all shaken from their stupor as Haro called "Watch out! Watch out!" and a bullet hit the corner of the wall a few feet behind them. Apparently they were almost through the makeshift blockade the placed. Everyone gave chase as Tai got further away.

After turning countless corners, Tai suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the hallway.

"Which way now, Tai?" Lacus asked, concerned with how quiet everything had become.

"What's wrong?" Cagalli asked, catching her breath. "Are we lost?"

Tai didn't answer, he was concentrating on listening for their attackers, but he was suddenly aware of the heavy breathing in his left ear, and his body stiffened as he was suddenly aware that his back was slightly damp.

"Kira…" He suddenly said, shaking him gently, but he received no response." Kira! Are you okay?" He asked urgently. When he got no reply, he gently eased Kira off his back and onto the wall.

"Athrun! Come here! Now!" He called as he sat Kira up. Athrun ran forwards but froze as he took in the sight before him.

Kira's once white hospital gown now had red stains on the front, and he was breathing heavily, even in unconsciousness. Athrun and Cagalli crouched at his side. Cagalli picked up his hand, and found it slightly clammy, Athrun raised the front of the gown to check the damage.

"Is he okay?" Luna asked.

"The stitching was pulled slightly, not altogether though." Athrun evaluated. "Two of the stitched were ripped out, and the wound is just seeping slightly." He pulled off his outer jacket ant tied it around Kira's chest, putting pressure on the seeping wound, trying to staunch the bleeding. Kira moaned slightly at the pressure, as Tai bent down and felt Kira's fore head.

"I think we pushed him too hard… maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" he sighed. "Well, there's one thing to be thankful for, at least he doesn't have a fever."

Luna stared at Kira's prone body. She had heard, ever since the end of the first war, about the FREEDOM's pilot, and how He, Athrun, Lacus and Cagalli had fought to bring peace to the world, to both Coordinators and Naturals, and of the skills he possessed. She had witnessed them first hand in the previous war, his incredible skill and abilities in a mobile suit. Not even Shinn was able to defeat him, but here was the same boy, barely a man, sitting injured before her. When she had heard the stories about him, she had thought of him as having some kind of super power, but now, what she saw was a normal human being… It is sometimes difficult to see him as a normal person.

"I think we should rest here for a bit." Athrun said, bringing Luna from her thoughts. "We need to re-evaluate our position and how we're gonna get the heck out of here!"

"Cool it, Athrun. I'll take first watch." Dearka said as he pulled Yzak with him.

***************

Luna and Shinn sat back to back, holding the others hand while they watched both sides of the hallway. Shinn had explained to her what had happened, and, after a lecture on how stupid the idea was, she determinedly stated that she was going to stay and help get Kira out of there. Nothing swayed her from her decision.

Athrun stood in front of Lacus, who held Kira's head in her lap, as Cagalli also stood nearby, their guns at the ready. Tai sat to the left of Kira, his head resting on the wall, listening for the slightest noise that would indicate their attackers approach. The jacket Athrun had tied around Kira's chest seemed to have worked; the blood had stopped seeping out and had almost stopped completely, although they would have to get him to a doctor as soon as they got out of the hospital. Yzak and Dearka stood at the hallway they had just come from, and monitored the hallway before them as well. Yzak contemplated all that had happened, occasionally looking around.

"I think we should keep moving…" He whispered to Dearka. "If they find us here, they could easily box us in. We're sitting ducks here."

"Yzak, that won't help." Dearka replied, pulling out his gun and checking it, before putting it back into its holster. "Kira is still asleep, and honestly, we need reinforcements. We are in no position to attack, even if we could, and Kira is in no shape to be moved yet. It may be crazy, but it's the best we've got."

"But if we had a bigger group, then we wouldn't have been able to hide for this long." Shinn interjected, turning to look at the whispering pair. Yzak gave a scowl, shooting him a glare.

"What would you know of it Rookie! You got through the war mostly on nerve, what would you know of tactical strategy on this level, let alone on a mission of this scale?" Yzak shot gruffly.

"What do you mean '_Rookie_'?" Shinn suddenly yelled at him, standing up as if to challenge him.

"Shinn! Quiet!" Luna chastised.

"I mean_ Rookie_, that you are completely clueless about all of this! You need to study your surroundings and know your enemy, then attack while you can, and get the weak or injured out before they have a chance to retaliate!" Yzak yelled back. Shinn growled at him, and opened his mouth to retaliate.

"Yzak! Shinn! Stop it, both of you!" Dearka said, getting between the two.

"Butt Out!" they shouted in unison, but Dearka held his ground.

"Would you all please SHUT UP!! They'll find us!" Cagalli screamed at them. However, at that moment, the distinctive crack of a gun was heard, closely followed by a scream and another shot. Then all was silent…

************

Well, that took a while… I'm sorry for the late update, but I have been swamped with other commitments. I hope this chapter is a little better and to your liking, and just for the readers:

**Spoiler: Chapter 8: Fight or Flight**

**Someone get a new Toy!!!**

As always: Please Review!

Ldsprincess!


	9. Chapter 8: Fight and Flight

A/N: hey everybody!!!!! I am soooo sorry for such a late update! I we both had our final Term of highschool since the last update, and I went on holiday over the Christmas break and didn't get back 'till half way through Feb and I have just been soooo busy! But if it makes you feel any better, KLS is now up to the teens in her chapters, so there's a lot of chaps to look forward to!

KLS has made me a promise that she will not give me the next book that has the next chapters of the story!!!!! I have up to chapter 10 in the book I've got, and I need your help to convince her to give me the next book!!!!

Just letting you know, both KLS and I are from Australia, and so we may use different words than you are used to, so I will endeavour to try and use words you are used to and if there are any words you are unfamiliar with, than just let me know.^-^

Thanks to those who did review the last chapter and I hope you like this one!!!!!!

I Apologize in advance, for any words that are tied together that shouldn't be. My laptop is somewhat malfunctioning, (Translation: Broken) aka the space bar doesn't always work the first time I press it… so just letting you know!

**In chapter 5, when Kira is explaining about Tai and when he left to go to Januarius City, I said that he left because Tai's mother was ill. What was meant to be said was that his GRANDmother was ill. Sorry for the typos and the confusion!!**

^-^

* * *

*SPOILER ALERT*

THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM GUNDAM SEED & GUNDAM SEED DESTINY.

* * *

Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

_Chapter 8: Fight and Flight_

_

* * *

_

_Previously_

_Luna and Shinn sat back to back, holding the others hand while they watched both sides of the hallway. Shinn had explained to her what had happened, and, after a lecture on how stupid the idea was, she determinedly stated that she was going to stay and help get Kira out of there. Nothing swayed her from her decision._

_Athrun stood in front of Lacus, who held Kira's head in her lap, as Cagalli also stood nearby, their guns at the ready. Tai sat to the left of Kira, his head resting on the wall, listening for the slightest noise that would indicate their attackers approach. The jacket Athrun had tied around Kira's chest seemed to have worked; the blood had stopped seeping out and had almost stopped completely, although they would have to get him to a doctor as soon as they got out of the hospital. Yzak and Dearka stood at the hallway they had just come from, and monitored the hallway before them as well. Yzak contemplated all that had happened, occasionally looking around._

"_I think we should keep moving…" He whispered to Dearka. "If they find us here, they could easily box us in. We're sitting ducks here."_

"_Yzak, that won't help." Dearka replied, pulling out his gun and checking it, before putting it back into its holster. "Kira is still asleep, and honestly, we need reinforcements. We are in no position to attack, even if we could, and Kira is in no shape to be moved yet. It may be crazy, but it's the best we've got."_

"_But if we had a bigger group, then we wouldn't have been able to hide for this long." Shinn interjected, turning to look at the whispering pair. Yzak gave a scowl, shooting him a glare._

"_What would you know of it Rookie! You got through the war mostly on nerve, what would you know of tactical strategy on this level, let alone on a mission of this scale?" Yzak shot gruffly._

"_What do you mean '__Rookie__'?" Shinn suddenly yelled at him, standing up as if to challenge him._

"_Shinn! Quiet!" Luna chastised._

"_I mean__ Rookie__, that you are completely clueless about all of this! You need to study your surroundings and know your enemy, then attack while you can, and get the weak or injured out before they have a chance to retaliate!" Yzak yelled back. Shinn growled at him, and opened his mouth to retaliate._

"_Yzak! Shinn! Stop it, both of you!" Dearka said, getting between the two._

"_Butt Out!" they shouted in unison, but Dearka held his ground._

"_Would you all please SHUT UP!! They'll find us!" Cagalli screamed at them. However, at that moment, the distinctive crack of a gun was heard, closely followed by a scream and another shot. Then all was silent…_

End Preview

* * *

Chapter 8: Fight and Flight

--

As Mu led the party through the halls, they came across the elevator being blocked by a vending machine. He paused for a moment.

"Well, we know one thing at least…" he said to himself. Murrue looked at him and nodded her confirmation.

"They were defiantly here." She finished. "And not only that, but now we know who they are after."

"Damn." Mu growled. "But where are they?!"

"Birdie!"

They both looked up to see birdie stop in front of them.

"That's Kira's-" Murrue began but was cut off when Birdie cried out once more and turned and flew down the opposite hall.

"Come on!" Mu called as he followed the robotic bird.

_

* * *

_

However, at that moment, the distinctive crack of a gun was heard, closely followed by a scream and another shot. Then all was silent…

When the first shot fired, followed by the scream, Athrun turned from his friend to seed Cagalli on her knees holding her shoulder. Deep crimson blood was seeping from between her fingers, staining her clothes in the same deep red. He was about to call out to her when he saw out of his peripheral vision a man poking his gun around the corner, aiming at Cagalli once more. However, Athrun was quicker.

He jumped in front of Cagalli and shot the man in the leg. As he fell to the floor, the glare he received from Athrun made even Yzak and Shinn take a step back. The man gave him a pain filled glare in return, and made to raise his gun once more. He was, once again, prevented from shooting his target as he received a bullet to the shoulder. As he dropped the gun, he fell back grasping his wounded shoulder. When the gun hit the floor, Shinn kicked it away from him. Shinn looked at Athrun and, seeing his confused stare, looked at the others, finding Yzak looking oddly at Dearka, who was smiling as he held his gun at the ready.

"Couldn't let him take you out too." He said conversationally as he walked towards the injured assassin as he passed out from the wounds.

Athrun turned to Cagalli, Lacus looking on with concern and worry shining in her eyes, as Athrun tended to her friend.

"Cagalli!" he called, getting her attention. "Are you okay?"

She winced when he touched her shoulder and pulled away her hand to find it coated in blood.

"I've just been shot in the arm, do you think I'm okay?!" she asked sarcastically, fixing him with a pain filled, sarcastic glare. "It's not that serious though, so I'll live." She added with a wince as Athrun examined the wound. Tai walked over and knelt next to Cagalli.

Athrun flexed her fingers and asked Tai to brace her back as he lifted her injured arm. She winced painfully, but her arm rose and fell with minimal difficulty.

"It looks like a partial penetration, though I can't tell if it has gone and embedded itself in the bone or not. Nothing appears to be broken…" he assessed. "We have to stop the bleeding, and get you to the infirmary as soon as we reach the ship."

"Here." Tai said as he took off his sweater and ripped a strip from the bottom, before handing it to Athrun. "It was getting a little hot here anyway."

"Thanks." Athrun replied.

Tai wrapped Cagalli's shoulder with the torn strip, and Athrun used the remainder of the sweater to create a makeshift sling. They both then paused to examine their handiwork.

"Well, it should hold until we reach the infirmary."

"Great… Something to look forward to, being poked and prodded…" Cagalli said sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood. She was rewarded with resounding hushed laughter from the members of the group.

She suddenly found herself blushing as Athrun put an arm around her to help her get up. She looked up at him and said; "Thank you."

"I-it was nothing." He replied, surprised at the sudden colour on her cheeks, and finding his own starting to redden. Tai shook his head and went to join Yzak and Dearka with the would be assassin.

"Is there a problem?"

Athrun let go of Cagalli as they both turned to see Haro bouncing to them, flapping.

"I won't accept that!"

Athrun and Cagalli both smiled. Cagalli tried to get up without moving her arm too much, but winced as she moved to straighten. Athrun put a hand on her good arm.

"Don't try to move too much, it'll make it worse." He cautioned worriedly.

"You're one to talk." She replied with a smile.

"Athrun!" Haro suddenly declared.

Athrun turned to Haro in a ready stance, only to tense when he heard a familiar voice as a figure came around the corner.

"Well, I must admit; with the amount of noise you were just making, I'm surprised that we haven't come across you sooner. And what, may I add, are you doing in the middle of the hallway?"

The sarcastic tone of Mu La Flaga came from the figure and the group; well three of them anyway, looked sheepish.

"Well hello Mu," Tai said with a grin as he hauled their captive to his feet. "Why whatever do you mean?"

"You know very well what I mean!" Mu yelled at him, amazed at how laid back this goofy kid was.

"Miss Cagalli! Are you alright?" Murrue asked worriedly as she came around the corner, spotting her shoulder.

"I'm okay…" she replied exasperatedly, but was prevented from repeating her earlier statement as Mu called out to Kira.

Their attention was drawn to the young Commander lying on Lacus' lap. Lacus raised a finger to her lips, signalling that he was fine, and just resting.

"He's okay, Mu." Athrun assured. "He wasn't injured, and just passed out due to overexerting himself. In addition to the drugs they gave him to help with his recovery. The stitches were pulled a little, but he's fine."

"Birdie!"

Lacus looked up as the robotic bird landed on Kira's chest, cocking its head to the side.

"You gotta admit that annoying Bird has its uses." Mu gestured to the bird with a smile.

"Birdie?" it voiced as it looked at him and jumped and flapped a few times.

"It was thanks to it that we found you so fast." Murrue explained, standing.

Athrun nodded, remembering all the times that the small robotic bird had led him to Kira and Kira to him. He was broken from his thoughts as the building gave a sudden jerk.

"We're wasting too much time here." Yzak said rather harshly to the group. "We need to get out of here before casualties begin turning up left, right and centre."

The captive in Tai's hold, having groggily woken up as Yzak spoke, began struggling violently. "Hey! Enough of that!" Tai cried out in surprise and Dearka pushed a pressure point to once again knock him unconscious.

"What should we do with him?" Dearka asked.

"We'll take him with us." Mu said after a moment. "Maybe he can answer a couple of questions for us."

"Well, we'll need to move now if we want to get anywhere." Luna said from the nearby corner.

"It maybe a little sooner than I expected, but I believe that we have little choice at this point." Lacus spoke cryptically, and looked at Mu, eyes hard. "Captain, we need to head for the East Hanger immediately! A Shield of Peace will be needed if what I fear is approaching becomes a reality…" she bowed her head with a sad look on her face and stroked Kira's cheek.

Mu nodded. "We need to get the New Kid and Kira to the East Hanger." He turned to everyone. "It's time to show these guys that we won't go down that easily!"

"Yeah, but the only problem is," Tai said as he handed the Man to Dearka and Yzak. "How do we get there? This place is crawling with soldiers, and not the ally kind."

Mu, with Shinn's help, lifted Kira so that he was supporting him. He didn't want to wake him. He was actually due to have his stitches removed in a few hours, and they had given him some pain killers just before he had left Kira's room. That was most likely what why he passed out, and he wanted to keep him that way, at least for now.

"Lets move!"

They reached the second floor with minimal difficulty, although Shinn was complaining that it was a little too easy for his liking, and they stopped at the front desk, nurses running around frantically.

"Okay, lets stop here for a moment and figure out how we're gonna get out of here." Mu stated as he placed Kira on a nearby chair.

"We have three jeeps waiting outside, with enough room to carry all of us to the hanger," Murrue began. "But we can't get to them as a big group."

"Maybe half of us could use a back exit while the other half goes out the front-"

Tai's eyes wandered to the window next to him, and his eyes spotted Athrun's car surrounded by the Mobile Suits, the jeeps not to far away and suddenly got an idea.

"I could take Kira in Athrun's car while soldiers in the Jeep keep their attention." He spoke up, cutting off any conversation that may have been previously occurring. "They'd expect him to go with the Jeeps with the others, and so they'll follow the jeeps, thinking he's there. While we head for the East Hanger, hopefully, blending in with regular traffic."

"Are you crazy?!" Athrun cried at him. "Do you honestly think they'll go for that?"

"Well its actually a pretty good plan." Mu told him, Shinn and Luna nodding behind him.

"It's like what we did with the positron cannon last year." Luna spoke up as she recalled the battle. "We drew out the Earth Alliance mobile suits and mobile armor while Shinn headed through that tunnel and destroyed the cannon. This plan is quite similar to that."

"Yeah but-"

"I think this'll work." Cagalli spoke up and put a hand on Athrun's arm. "Hey he's my little brother, too. So don't think you're the only one who's worried here. Any plan we come up with will have some risks in it, and those risks we'll just have to take."

Athrun looked at Kira, then back to Cagalli and nodded.

"Alright," Tai said as they all agreed on his plan. "We'll split up into three groups. Lacus, Kira, Mu and I will make up group 1. Team two will consist of Yzak, Dearka, Cagalli, Athrun and our little friend here." He pointed to the unconscious man Dearka was supporting. "And Team three would be made up of Luna, Shinn and Murrue. Team 2 will need to take as many soldiers as you can in two Jeeps.

We'll dress our little friend in Kira's gown, and you need to make sure you keep his face hidden, and team 2 will take a detoured route to the Eternal, lead them on a wild goose chase. Have the soldiers cover you.

I'll take Athrun's car with my team and we'll have team 3 follow at a distance. Hopefully they take the bait and follow the larger group, while we make a silent getaway." Tai finished. "Everyone got it?"

Everyone nodded and Athrun walked to Tai, handing him his Keys.

"If I find one scratch…" he left the threat hanging.

"What? It's me we're talking about here." Tai replied with a grin.

"That's what I'm afraid of…" Athrun muttered to himself and turned to his group as they put Kira's gown on the unconscious soldier and a fresh one on Kira. He then helped Mu to once again support Kira and had the captive placed on his own back.

"Ready."

Mu nodded and led the group as they headed to the ground level. When they reached the ground level, he stopped and turned to Athrun.

"Okay, you and your group need to make some noise. Yell, scream, run loudly, I don't care. Just make some noise to draw their attention." He said.

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Yzak said and turned to look at Tai. "This plan is sounding worse by the minute…" he muttered.

"Well it's too late now! If you have a better plan, then you should have said something before!" Tai responded challengingly.

"Come on guys! Cut it out!" Luna yelled in a hushed voice.

"It's a wonder how you even survived the first war…" Shinn muttered. Yzak turned his glare to the young pilot.

"What'd you-"

"Oh… Knock it OFF!" Cagalli said firmly.

"Now if you would please stop acting like spoiled children, I've already got a plan on how we'll pull this off." Everyone turned their attention to the young Representative. "Now, heres what we'll do…"

A few minuets later, everyone was in position.

"Okay… Go!" Cagalli gave the order and a group of 8 soldiers started forward carefully, all the while keeping an eye on the activated mobile suits nearby.

The leader of the soldiers observed the opposing men outside. There were four guards at the entrance and one in the nearby garden. He turned to his men and nodded. As one they walked swiftly out the electronic doors and snuck up behind the guards. One by one, they knocked them out and the leader grabbed the earpiece of the guard in front of him.

"Sorry mate, I'm just going to borrow this." He said as he placed the earpiece at his ear.

"Commander! Commander, come in!" he called urgently. There was a few moments of static, then a female voice came from the speaker.

"What is it?"

"Kira Yamato and a team of ORB soldiers are at the exit… Wait… What… Haahh!" He shuffled the equipment and then tore the earpiece and microphone apart. He dropped the now useless piece of equipment and signalled the group to follow him. Athrun and the rest of team 2 followed.

Cagalli jumped into the rear of the closest jeep and helped Athrun place "Kira" on her lap as he climbed on. He then pulled "Kira's" head back onto his own lap as they began their journey. Cagalli began shaking "Kira", as if trying to wake him up.

"Kira! Kira! Come on, Kira! You've got to wake up!" Tears came to her eyes as she suddenly turned to Athrun. "Athrun, he's not waking up!"

Athrun looked confused and stuttered for a moment. She gave him a look that clearly said 'Thanks for nothing' and turned back to "Kira".

"He's still bleeding! Come on Kira, Hang on! We need you, _I_ need you!" she screamed as fake tears ran down her cheeks.

Dearka, who had been watching the display, silently laughing at the two, turned to Yzak with a smile.

"She's laying it on a bit thick there, don't you think?" he whispered. They both turned to the 'almost couple' and Yzak took note of the sour look on Athrun's face.

"Yeah, but by the look on Athrun's face, the guy would have been better off being dragged behind the jeep." As they drove, they saw some jeeps and mobile suits following them. "But, at least this crazy plan is working…" Yzak said with a smirk.

* * *

Back at the hospital, the Female Commander rushed to the 4th floor window, to see that Kira Yamato was, indeed at the entrance, and by the looks of it, he had apparently been wounded, judging by the blood that could be seen on his hospital gown. He had Chief Representative Cagalli Yula Atha with him, as well as Athrun Zala, Dearka Elsmen, Yzak Joule, in addition to a large number of ORB soldiers. She quickly scanned the area to find the Blonde man, Lacus Clyne, Shinn Asuka and Lunamaria Hawk. They had apparently split up to give them a chance to get Yamato out. Their targets had been separated.

However, Kira Yamato was their primary Target, and as such, they would take care of him first. She turned to the soldiers behind her.

"Men, return to your mobile suits! Kira Yamato is getting away! Go after them, and make sure you capture him alive. Kill the rest if you have to. I will not fail like that idiot!"

After returning to the entrance, 8 of the men boarded the empty mobile suits, while the rest jumped into the jeeps and began pursuing their target.

* * *

Meanwhile

Mu and his team had been waiting for when they could get Kira out of there. Suddenly, the elevator sounded and he motioned for everyone to move back silently. A large number of foot falls was their only warning, as they watched the blond woman and the soldiers run out to pursue their 'decoy'.

Tai was currently supporting Kira as Shinn and Luna held their guns at the ready. Tai had given his spare gun to her to use when she joined the group, and she was beginning to realise the impracticality of a dress at a time like this. She was wearing a smart-casual black dress that reached just above her knees with a red belt and sandals. She hadn't been kidding when she told Shinn a 'dinner with her family'.

Lacus was holding Haro and Birdie, keeping them quiet. She kept shooting nervous glances at Kira, worried about him and wondering what they would gain by removing Kira.

As the last few soldiers moved towards the door, Tai jostled Kira to readjust him, but as he did so, Kira gave a small moan. Everyone froze and glanced worriedly between Kira and the soldiers. They all waited, hoping that the soldiers didn't hear him. However, nothing happened, except the sound of the doors opening as they ran to their mobile suits and jeeps. As the last sounds of the machines faded away, they all relaxed.

"That was close." Lacus said as she gripped Kira's hand. "We cannot waste anymore time, Mu, we must leave now while we still have the chance." She said as she turned to Mu. He nodded once and once again moved to take Kira when he stirred and opened his eyes once groggily.

"What's going on?" he asked as his vision focused on his surroundings.

"Good to see your awake Kid." Mu stated.

"How are you feeling?" Murrue asked as Tai helped Kira to stand. He wobbled for a moment before regaining his balance.

"I'm alright. What happened to Athrun and the others?" he responded, not that surprised to see Mu and Murrue there.

"I'll explain on the way, but right now, we need to keep moving." Lacus told him as she held his hand. Kira nodded and followed Mu's lead as he swiftly made his way to the front doors of the hospital.

Once they reached Athrun's car, Mu opened the back doors so Lacus and Kira could jump in. Lacus climbed in first and after placing Haro by her side, helped Kira to lay across the seats and placed a blanket over his head, all the while, explaining the plan.

After Mu closed the door, he turned to Murrue and nodded.

"Don't follow too closely, just far enough that you can still see us. We'll meet you there." He cautioned.

"Right!" She responded as she called the men to her and headed for the jeep.

He turned to see Tai in the driver's seat, engine running and waiting.

"You sure you wanna take this road?" he asked, motioning to the exit to the right.

"Yeah. If we take the other exit then it'll take us almost double the time to get there." Tai responded as Mu vaulted the door and sat in the passenger seat.

"Just be careful, there's a lot of shrapnel on the roads, so don't drive too fast and keep and eye out." He cautioned.

"Who, me? Come on, your talking to a Coordinator here." Tai replied jokingly. "Time to put on your seat belts, kiddies, and hang on tight!" he said as he shifted gear and floored it.

"Just don't run into a tree…" Came the muffled voice of Kira as they left the hospital parking lot.

A few minutes into the drive, Kira cried out as his head hit the seat in front of him.

"Tai! I know we need to get there fast, but do you have to drive like a maniac?" He asked as he rubbed his head.

"Why don't you try dodging these things and other cars at the same time!" Tai called back as he made a sharp swerve to avoid another car.

Mu was holding onto the seat for dear life as Tai made another attempt to avoid the potentially dangerous pieces of metal on the road.

"But still, do you think you could slow down a little?" he asked as they straightened.

"If you drive too fast, people may get suspicious." Lacus said calmly, despite the situation. Mu looked back at her.

'_How can she be…'_

"Look out Tai!"

Mu was torn from his thoughts as Kira cried out. He turned to see a tree had fallen on the road, blocking their lane.

"Haahh! TAI! Look out! Your heading for the tree!" he cried out and moved to grab the wheel.

"I know! I know! I'm moving!" Tai yelled back. "Stop being a backseat driver and let me handle this!"

At the last moment, he swerved around the tree, avoiding two head-on collisions as he did so. Once they were driving safely again, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"See. What did I tell you? I have everything under control-"

Suddenly there was a loud pop, and the car jolted and started to swerve out of control.

"I think we just hit one of your pieces of shrapnel, Captain!" Tai yelled as he tried to bring the car under control.

"Tai!"

"What?"

"TAI!"

"WHAT?"

"TREE!" was all that Mu was able to say before they flew off the road and into the aforementioned tree at full speed.

Kira sat up from his position over Lacus, coughing from the smoke/steam emanating from the engine.

"Lacus! Are you alright?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. Just a few scratches. Are you okay?" she asked him in return. He nodded. He looked her over and saw that she did indeed have only a few minor scratches, although she would have a bump on her head, as she had hit the door on impact with the tree. He brushed some leaves off of them and turned to the two in the front as he heard a groan.

"You could have warned me about the piece of metal in the road." Tai groaned as he held his head.

"Well who was it that said he had everything under control?" Mu replied as he shook his head to get rid of all the leaves and twigs that had settled there. Tai pulled away his hand to see that half his hand was covered in blood.

"Well that doesn't look good…"

"Tai! Your hurt!" Kira said in concern.

"Yeah, and so are you." Was his witty reply.

"Yeah but yours is fresh, his is 98.9% healed." Came the voice of Luna as they approached the car wreak. Shinn whistled somewhat sarcastically as he examined the car.

"Great job Tai, you just assassinated a tree." He said as he opened the rear doors as far as the wreak would allow.

"And Athrun's car." Luna added as she examined the tree. It had a HUGE dent in the trunk and it seemed to have a split running through the centre.

"Oopsie!" cried Haro as it bounced on the ground, having been freed of the car door.

"You know, Athrun's gonna kill you when he finds out." Kira said as he stepped out the car after Lacus.

"Mmhmm," Luna nodded in agreement. "I'd say this looks a little more than one scratch."

"I'm surprised you all weren't killed." Murrue said as she attended to Tai's wound. His was the worst injury of all the passengers.

"Athrun does not find out about any of this. Zilch. Zip. Nada. No crash. No tree. No nothing." Tai said all of this in a flat tone, however, Kira could see a twinkle of fear in Tai's eyes as he said this.

"You couldn't have waited a few more moments before we crashed, could you? The entrance to the Hanger is just ahead." Mu said as he pointed to the building ahead of them.

Tai climbed out the car as Murrue placed a patch over the wound.

"Lets walk." He said seriously as he began heading to the building.

"Um, how about we all use the jeep?" Kira suggested.

"Is that so?..." Haro said as it followed Lacus and Kira to the jeep.

* * *

After riding the lift to the main East Hanger, Lacus lead Kira to the change rooms so that he could change out of the hospital gown. Once done she requested that Mu and Murrue head for the Archangel. After wishing them luck, they both headed for the former Earth Alliance vessel.

"Tai, come with me. Shinn, Lunamaria." They both turned to her. "Please keep watch for a moment." She requested and they both nodded.

Taking Kira's hand, the young leader hesitated, refusing to look at him.

"Lacus…" Kira said encouragingly. "We have to."

She clutched Haro to her chest and closed her eyes. She wished it had never come to this, so soon. After all, they are a tool for fighting and killing. _'No,'_ she reminded herself as she felt Kira squeeze her hand reassuringly. _'In the right hands, they are used to protect and save lives. And that is why we must do this.'_ She nodded and closed her eyes.

"We have to do this." Kira repeated and looked to the group. "We have to stop another war from beginning again and shattering everyone's dreams, again." He looked directly at Tai. "The desire to bring peace is a worthy one, and for those who choose to walk that path, will always find it difficult. But if you remain true to your goal, you will never falter." He turned to Birdie on Lacus' shoulder and held out his hand for it. It cried out and flew to Kira's hand.

"I need the key please, Birdie." He requested as he brought it close.

Birdie cried our once again and opened its beak and produced a silver key with a feather on the end. Kira took it as Haro opened and Lacus retrieved an identical key, except this one was gold.

Kira looked at Lacus once more as they lead Tai to a large door with a 2 on it. They both went to either side of the door and they both nodded to each other and at the same time, turned the keys and punched in a 4 digit code and the doors began to open.

* * *

**Wow that took forever!!!!!!! Sorry again for the late update!!! And sorry for the play of when Kira piloted the freedom in episode 13 of Destiny….. it just seemed like the easiest way to get this story rolling!**

**Thanks for reading and I promise I'll get the next chapter up asap! I don't have as much free time as I did while I was in school….. go figure…**

**Ldsprincess**

**P.S. as always REVIEW Please!!!**


	10. Chapter 9: Flight For Peace

**When we reference the Freedom and Justice in this chapter, when giving the explanation of the equipment, we mean the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, and the ZGMF-X09A Justice. Also, if you notice, that both Kira and Athrun reference the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice as just Freedom and Justice. **

**And thank you to all the people who reviewed. I assure you that this story is not dead! Especially those who got me to get off my butt and finish this. THANKS!**

Disclaimer: we do not own Gundam seed or anything close to any anime show, all we own is the story we are writing, and we're just borrowing the names and etc. sorry… Although we do own Tai!

*SPOILER*

THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM GUNDAM SEED & GUNDAM SEED DESTINY.

Gundam Seed Destiny: Battle of the Bonds

Written By: Kairi Loves Sora

Co-Written By: Ldsprincess

Edited By: Ldsprincess

_Chapter 9: Flight for Peace_

_Previously:_

_Taking Kira's hand, the young leader hesitated, refusing to look at him. _

_"Lacus…" Kira said encouragingly. "We have to." _

_She clutched Haro to her chest and closed her eyes. She wished it had never come to this, so soon. After all, they are a tool for fighting and killing. 'No,' she reminded herself as she felt Kira squeeze her hand reassuringly. 'In the right hands, they are used to protect and save lives. And that is why we must do this.' She nodded and closed her eyes. _

_"We have to do this." Kira repeated and looked to the group. "We have to stop another war from beginning again and shattering everyone's dreams, again." He looked directly at Tai. "The desire to bring peace is a worthy one, and for those who choose to walk that path, will always find it difficult. But if you remain true to your goal, you will never falter." He turned to Birdie on Lacus' shoulder and held out his hand for it. It cried out and flew to Kira's hand. _

_"I need the key please, Birdie." He requested as he brought it close. _

_Birdie cried our once again and opened its beak and produced a silver key with a feather on the end. Kira took it as Haro opened and Lacus retrieved an identical key, except this one was gold. _

_Kira looked at Lacus once more as they lead Tai to a large door with a 2 on it. They both went to either side of the door and they both nodded to each other and at the same time, turned the keys and punched in a 4 digit code and the doors began to open._

"Tai, I would like to introduce to you, the ZGMF-X08A PEACE." Lacus said as the lights came on. Before them sat a large Gundam that looked somewhat like the Freedom and Justice combined, and as his eyesight adjusted to the bright lights, Tai found himself gaping at the mobile suit before him. "It's your new Mobile Suit."

He looked at her, stunned.

"My… new machine?" he stuttered. Lacus giggled.

"Yes, we thought that as you will be now stationed on the Eternal, we would give you a new machine that could keep up with the others." She said with a smile. Tai still looked shocked at the news and began staring at the Gundam in awe.

"We examined your fighting style, and found that you have a fighting style similar to both Athrun and myself." Kira explained as he looked from Tai to the Mobile Suit. "In order to give the speed that is needed for you to fight comfortably, we added an altered version of the Freedom's wings," he continued as he pointed to the currently folded wings at the back of the Gundam.

The wings of the Gundam were approximately 2/3 of the length of the Freedom, and they were slightly more rounded than the Freedom's, in addition, there seemed to only be 4 wings, whereas the Freedom had 5. '_The rounded edges of the wings are probably for maximum wind resistance and to increase the aerodynamics.' _ Tai thought to himself as he examined them.

"In saying this, its speed is on par with the X10A Freedom and X09A Justice, maybe faster, but we haven't been able to fully test the speed without overheating the thrusters." Lacus added as he nodded at her. "We also added the state of the art DRAGOON System, two Beam Boomerangs, and in addition to the two beam sabers that are mounted at the hips, an extra beam blade was added on the outside of both the forearms." She explained as she brought out a pad that had a digital version of the Gundam, and showing the points she had just described. "All of this was added to the existing mobile suit, built alongside the Freedom and Justice in the first war. However, it never fully reached the completion stage, and was abandoned."

"During its reconstruction, in order to give it some familiarity, we added some characteristics of the Everlasting that you currently pilot." Kira added as Tai's mouth once again fell open in shock.

"But where-?" Tai began, as he began, a cry cut him off as Birdie landed on his head, jumping back and forth. Kira shook his head and motioned to the robotic bird. It gave a final cry and flew to its regular spot on Kirs's shoulder.

"The Destiny and the Impulse have temporarily been transferred to the Kusinagi, and we wanted to ask if Mu could borrow the Everlasting, as the Strike+ is in need of repairs." Kira looked from the machine to the pilot. "If it's alright with you, we could temporarily install the Natural OS so he could use it."

Tai nodded at all this, just barely taking in what Kira was saying. He stepped closer to the machine. This was _his_ new machine. He had only piloted 2 machines in his military career that he could call his own, a ZAKU and the Everlasting, and now...

"What do you think?" Lacus's voice broke through his train of thought. He turned to her, as she stood by Kira's side.

"Will you accept this 'Shield of Peace'?"

He stood silently for a moment, then turned fully to face the two vetrons. The way they stood, together, one; a Commander and Admiral for both ZAFT and ORB respectfully. The other; the current PLANT Supreme Council Chairwoman and leader and founder of the Clyne Faction. It seemed hard to believe, even to him, who was barely a year older than Kira, that they were still only teenagers. He smiled, then turned a mischievious eye towards the machine.

"Theres just one problem..."

Behind him, Kira and Lacus gave each other a confused glance, as Tai turned to them.

"The Peace doesn't have enough room for all of us without turning into a clown car." He said with a mock serious look on his face. Kira smiled, he knew he would accept, and now they could begin the real challenge: getting out.

"We need to get to the Eternal, but they would be expexting us to go there as our first route for escape." Kira stated, taking command. He still had difficulty in the area of 'Leading with Authority' as Athrun liked to put it. He found it more difficult to be the one giving the orders, than being the one receiving the orders. "I need to get these stitches out before I can pilot the Freedom. I don't want to spend any more time in the hospital than I have to."

"Kira, you go with Tai to the Eternal, we'll meet you there." Lacus said, before turning to Tai. "Would that cause you any trouble Tai?"

Kira looked like he was going to protest. It may be him they were after, but he wasn't about to run away and leave everyone on their own. But before he could say anything, Tai spoke.

"That shouldn't be a problem, but what about you? Somehow I don't think you could all fit in one jeep. There's barely enough room for the soldiers as it is." He pointed out, humoring a momentary image of a jeep turned clown car.

"We'll manage." Said Shinn as he and Luna walked in. As Tai turned to face them, he noted that Luna was carrying, what appeared to be, a pile of black and purple fabric. He looked at it questioningly for a moment before Luna spoke.

"It's not going to bite you know." She said with a smirk. She opened it up to reveal a pilot's uniform. It was a standard ZAFT uniform, with a slight difference: it was a different colour and it had two small T's above the Faith Badge. His initials, he realized. He turned a questioning look towards Kira and Lacus.

"I decided to add the Initials of the FAITH pilot on the suit, in addition to the standard uniform." Lacus said with a smile as he took the uniform. She then moved away, in the direction of the mobile suit.

"Power is whatever one makes of it…" She mused to herself. Everyone turned to her as the familiar words echoed through the room. She turned to them. "Unfortunately, very few people who gain power use it with a desire to help others, and as a result, they end up hurting the ones closest to them…" She bowed her head as Haro rolled up to her and bounced into her hands.

"Don't worry," Shinn said. "We'll fight to protect the ones we love, and beat these guys!" He looked to Luna, who nodded.

"Yeah! We have no intention of letting war rear its ugly head again!" With a nod to both Lacus and Kira, Luna shooed both Shinn and Tai to the change rooms to change into his uniform.

Kira smiled as they went, but the smile faded slightly as he turned, once again to Lacus, seeing a shimmering tear fall from her eyes and land on Haro.

"Why... Why must we always continue to fight? Why can't we just live in peace… in a world where you don't have to fight and kill one another just to further your own goals?" She whispered, holding Haro close to her. Kira smiled and embraced her. She looked up at him, tears gleaming in her eyes.

"I knew there would be a possibility of something like this happening… I always wished it wouldn't, but there was always the possibility of having to fight again. That is the reason I decided to wear a uniform." Kira said softly. "Although I never thought it would be this soon, I knew there would come a day where I would have to make a choice, to fight or not. The time has come, and I choose to fight. The world isn't perfect, and neither are we… we can't bring peace overnight, but we can do the best we can, one day at a time." Lacus lay her head on his shoulder as she listened to his words.

"I just wish it would all end…" she stated. Kira just held her. He too wished for the very same thing. He knew all of this was happening way too fast. Not long ago they were cleaning up the remains of the most recent war, and now they were already being thrown into another potential one. They were only 19, and had seen and done more than most over half their age, in less than four years. Lacus had always been so strong, but that never meant that it didn't affect her, quite the opposite, it affected her more than most. Millions of people look to her for strength and guidance, strength that she readily gave, but it was beginning to show, in these quiet moments they both shared with each other, that that pressure was beginning to overwhelm her. He held her tighter.

"I know…" He replied. "We'll be okay."

"Is there a problem? I won't accept it!"

At Haro's cry, Kira and Lacus drew apart, still in a light embrace, and turned to the three pilots who were returning. Tai came up and placed a hand on Kira's shoulder. "Come on Commander, let's go."

Kira looked down at Lacus, still unsure and reluctant to leave. She nodded to him. She knew. Kira then turned to Shinn and Luna. "You remember what I told you?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Shinn replied, offhandedly, and then headed off with Luna in tow. However, he paused as he reached the door. "Be careful out there." Shinn wasn't looking at Kira or Tai, so it wasn't clear as to whom he was talking to, until he continued. He turned to them, not looking at either of them, a light embarrassed blush on his face, despite the fierceness of his tone and facial features. "There's no point in giving you a new machine if you're going to just get yourself killed 5 minutes in, let alone before I can have a go at you myself!"

Tai blinked in confusion, and then a wide grin spread across his face.

"Don't worry; I'm an expert in the 'Crash and Burn' department, although I think that Athrun could give me a run for my money." He replied jokingly. Kira had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, while Lacus looked slightly confused. "Is that so?" Haro chimed as it spun in her hands. Tai suddenly became serious. "Don't worry Shinn, I didn't get this uniform for nothing, you know. I do have some skill." And Shinn had no time to retort as Tai pushed Kira towards the lift to the cockpit. "I'll bring your commander back safely. I'll see you all at the Eternal

As they reached the chair, Birdie flew up and landed on Kira's shoulder. And as the chair descended, Kira took one last look at Lacus and the group. Shinn sent Kira a cocky salute his way and Kira had to crack a smile. Shinn would never change… alter maybe, but never change. As the chair came to a stop, Kira navigated himself behind the chair as Tai strapped himself into it. He looked at Kira as if to ask permission, then turned to boot up the machine. As he went through the start up motions, Kira gave him some miscellaneous information on the Gundam.

"The core of the PEACE is the same Nuclear Core as the Freedom and Justice. However, Terminal is in the process of converting the core from the current Nuclear core to the Hyper-Deuteron reactor that powers the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice. That being said, because we are putting new equipment onto the existing machine, we don't know how the new weapons will react or how the core would react. You need to keep an eye on the temperature of the machine. This would be the first test drive of the machine, so try not to get carried away. You'll have to report to the Mechanics and Technicians when we reach the Eternal."

Tai nodded as he completed the start up, and activated the phase shift. The exterior of the machine changed from grey to dark purple, white and black. The power cables disconnected as he started the thrusters. He smiled at his childhood friend and asked: "You ready?" Kira nodded.

"Better hold on. Don't want blood all over my new machine." He teased as he turned to the screen. Kira got a firm hold.

"Tai Tenoh, Peace Launching!"

GSD GSD GSD GSD GSD

Team 2

After departing from the Hospital, Team two went into formation with Athrun's jeep in the middle, surrounded by multiple other jeeps in a jumbled box formation.

"How are we doing Dearka? They following?" Athrun asked. A few minutes after leaving the hospital, he, Dearka and Yzak changed places. Athrun was driving, with Yzak in the passenger's seat, and Dearka in the back with Cagalli. Dearka checked behind them.

"Not yet. You think they took the bait?" He responded, still looking over his shoulder. Yzak growled, muttering something about 'stupid plans'. "Wait! There they are!" Dearka said leaning over the side of the door, as the jeep made a sharp turn. "5 to 7 mobile suits, plus a number of jeeps. Athrun Left!"

Dearka leapt forward and yanked the steering wheel. The jeep swerved to the left as a shot fired from a beam rifle. When the smoke cleared, Dearka looked back to see a small crater where the car had been previously. Dearka sighed as he got comfortable. '_So it seems they don't care who they kill to complete their mission.' _His thought was interrupted by a sigh coming from Athrun.

"Thanks Dearka, but do me a favor… Don't do that again!" he yelled as Yzak mumbled something about back seat drivers as Athrun grabbed the radio-phone. "All units return fire! You won't be able to shoot them down, but try to stall them for as long as possible!"

Two of the escorting jeeps, armed with low powered Gatling Guns, aimed at the Mobile Suits. As both sides traded fire, Athrun grit his teeth, trying to swerve and avoid the return shots and debris from the impact on the road, within the limited space if the other jeeps. This wasn't working. He picked up the radio again.

"Scatter. We can't evade attacks in such close proximity to each other!" he yelled as he swerved again. "We're a bigger target as a group!" he put the radio down. "Yzak, would you shut up" he yelled as he pulled the car into a sharp turn.

For the past few minutes, Yzak had been muttering, none too softly, that if he was behind the wheel or in his mobile suit that he would get them out of there in the time it took to start his machine. While this was Yzak's way of dealing with his nerves, it wasn't helping Athrun's concentration on driving in a proverbial minefield. Suddenly, one of the jeeps pulled up next to them.

"Sir, one of the ZAKU's is missing."

"I know we didn't shoot it down-" Dearka was cut off as Athrun dodged another shot, separating the two vehicles. "- we don't have the right equipment to cause that much damage." He finished as everyone righted themselves.

"Athrun! If I get permanent damage to my back because of whiplash, I'm blaming you!" Cagalli voiced, holding her shoulder. Yzak ignored the threat and turned in his seat.

"How many were there?" He asked them both. Cagalli and Dearka did quick calculations, turning back to double check.

"There are currently four ZAKU's and one GOUF. Including the missing one, that would make six in total." Cagalli told them as she turned back around.

"Did anyone see where it went?" Athrun asked.

Just at that moment, the ZAKU in question appeared in front of them, aiming its beam rifle at them.

"Oh Crap!" Athrun exclaimed, yanking the wheel, planning to go between the legs. However, the ZAKU fired as it landed, narrowly missing the jeep. At such close proximity to the impact site, the jeep got blown off onto its side and off the road. As the jeep stopped mid-roll, the occupants of the car were thrown out onto the soft grass on the roadside. The other jeeps began to turn back to assist them as a voice came from the external speakers of the ZAKU.

"Enough games. Hand over Kira Yamato now, and no further violence will be used against you." Came a male voice.

"Yeah right!" Cagalli yelled as she ran over to the stirring decoy, holding her injured arm as blood began to seep through the makeshift bandage. Athrun followed close behind her.

"Cagalli…" he began in a warning tone, but she ignored him.

"Who's to say you won't kill us as soon as you have him? You must be pretty stupid if you think that we'd just hand him over!" she yelled as she stood in front of Athrun, shielding him from sight as he once more rendered the man unconscious.

"Are you saying you are refusing our request?" the voice said dangerously. The remainder of the ZAKU's and the GOUF landed and in the distance, the pursuing jeeps could be seen coming closer.

"You're damn right!" Cagalli yelled back.

Yzak and Dearka stared at her in awe. They had never seen or heard of anyone, much less a Natural, stand up to and attempt to stare down a fully armed Mobile Suit, with no weapons and no way to defend themselves. No one was that crazy, brave or stupid.

"Then we are left with no alternative." The surrounding Mobile Suits raised their weapons, preparing to fire.

"I don't think so!" Came a new voice as a Mobile suit came flying towards them,

Everyone turned to the approaching mobile suit as it fired its own beam rifle and disarmed the machines surrounding the jeep and its former occupants.

"It would seriously put a black mark on my record if I let such high ranking officials get killed under my watch. That may make it hard for me to get a promotion." The voice continued as the machine landed in front of them. Athrun looked up as the gust of wind caused by the thrusters subsided. As he studied the machine, it clicked as to why the voice sounded so familiar.

"It's Tai!" he told Cagalli. He saw her eyes widen as she too recognized the voice.

"But that's not the Everlasting." She pointed out. She had only seen the Everlasting a few times, and she wondered what he was doing with this machine.

"I will only ask this once; leave now and no lives shall be needlessly lost!" Tai demanded.

"And who do you think you are, ordering us around?" came one of the voices from an undamaged machine. The GOUF cut it off as it prepared to fire, stepping forward.

"Well, well, well… it seems that Lacus Clyne believes that she is the only one exempt from her precious treaty. How will the rest of the world react to the knowledge that she has breached several points in the treaty?" The pilot accused. Before anyone could react to the accusation, Tai laughed and raised his beam rifle at the GOUF.

"There's no need for such accusations. This is mainly due to the fact that said accusations are based on conjecture and are, as such, untrue.  
Along with the ZGMF-X10A FREEDOM, ZGMF-X09A JUSTICE and the ZGMF-X13A PROVIDENCE, former Chairman Zala commissioned a fourth machine to be built. This machine was called the ZGMF-X08A PEACE.  
But, hey, don't take my word for it… You can look up the military record of this machine, and take a note on who commissioned its construction. Technically this is an outdated machine, though I have to admit, it's still top of the line, even after two years of gathering dust.  
After the war ended, the Clyne Faction took responsibility for the machine, and started reviewing the maintenance and updating the machine as new technology became available. One of these updates is the conversion from the nuclear core to the new Hyper-Deuteron Nuclear Reactor. Technically Chairwoman Lacus Clyne didn't violate any part of the treaty, nor bent any rule in the book.  
The treaty states that: '_Construction of nuclear based and/or nuclear technologies is prohibited, without the approval and clearance of the leaders of all parties, including Militaries, Nations, Factions and Organizations.'_ It also states that '_N-Jammer Cancellers singular use is for Nuclear Power Plants. Violation of these points will have severe consequences.'_  
The Clyne Faction/Terminal got the approval from the aforementioned parties, for the use of the PEACE as they made the appropriate alterations to the machine, to meet the standards of the treaty.  
I'm sorry to say that, because the decision was made at the end of the Second Bloody Valentine war, and as your little… gathering, is not currently recognized as anything more than a group of rebellious individuals, you were not included in the decision.  
As you can see, a lot of thought and planning went into this machine and no violations have been made.  
Now, if there are no more false accusations, I would very much like to know how you recognized a machine that has been gathering dust for two years."

Athrun stared at the Peace, a look of awe on his face. He had only once before heard his friend be so serious. He used to be the class clown, the one that always got into trouble. What happened to him?

"I'm sorry to say that I'm inclined to deny you that information." Came the voice again from the GOUF, now unmistakably female. "And we have been told that we are not to leave without Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne. As it seems that Ms Clyne has vanished, we'll just have to settle with Mr. Yamato."

"You're members of ZAFT, just like us!" Yzak shouted, sporting a large cut to his left temple, which still oozed blood down his face. "Why are you attacking your own Military?" The head of the GOUF turned to them.

"We are far superior then ZAFT." Came the simple reply. "We only wear the uniform of the military we belong, when the situation requires." There was silence following this statement. Cagalli gasped as the implications dawned on her.

"That means Orb…" she began. Athrun wrapped his arm around her. There would be some serious re-evaluation back in Orb. Orb was one of the tightest and strictest militaries, in addition to the most loyal. The thought of any Orb soldier turning traitor was … impossible. He was brought back to the problem at hand as the GOUF drew its weapon.

"Talk is cheap, so we're just going to take Mr. Yamato and be on our way."

Inside the Peace, Kira held his side and felt the stitches. They had been itching throughout the conversation, and he resisted the urge to scratch them. Tai turned to him.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

Kira thought for a moment. Athrun and the others were too close to them, so a large battle was out of the question, not to mention the fact that they didn't know how much the Peace could take on its first run. They couldn't just hand the decoy over to them, then all they did in the last hour or so would be for naught. There had to be a way… WAIT! It was a gamble, but they didn't have any other choice. He had to rely on Tai's marksman ship.

"I have an idea…" Kira told him.

"Okay." Tai responded as Kira told him the plan. "As long as I get to do things my way."

Kira hesitantly nodded his head. He may live to regret giving him free reign, but they didn't have much time. Tai turned the radio back on, while Kira went back to his original position.

"I'm sorry to say that Kira Yamato is slightly busy, full schedule and all. But if you leave your name and phone number, he'll get back to you at the closest convenience." He said as he shot a grin back at Kira.

Kira was trying hard not to groan and face palm himself… Tai really hadn't changed. Unknown to him, Athrun was echoing these same sentiments.

"Oh, well, in that case we'll just be on our way. We'll contact you at a more preferable time." The female replied in a sweet, sarcastic tone. "What do you take us for?! If you won't hand him over, then we'll just take him by force!" As soon as the words were spoken, chaos erupted as everything happened at once.

The enemy soldiers pulled up next to the jeep and the ZAKU's with functioning weapons prepared to attack. However, Tai was faster. As the GOUF began to fire, Tai fired his own beam rifle at the weapon and simultaneously fired his dragoon system at the ZAKU's and GOUF. The GOUF took the most damage, being hit on the head and arms, and one dangerously close to the cockpit. The group on the ground could see smoke rising from the GOUF and some liquid seeping from the damaged machine.

"What!? ZAN! Retreat!" the female screamed, The GOUF shaking as it made its ascent. As it gained altitude, the thrusters failed, and as the GOUF began to fall, one of the ZAKU's caught the machine and led the rest of the machines in the retreat. As quickly as it had begun, it was over. As the area became silent, Athrun and the others slowly stood from their crouched positions.

"Need a hand?" Tai asked as the Peace bent down and righted the jeep like a child with its toy cars. "You'd better head straight for the Eternal, before they send reinforcements. There are a few things we need to brief you on."

"What about Kira? Did he and Lacus make it to the Eternal safely?" Athrun asked as he attempted to assist Cagalli to the jeep, but she threw off his hand and made her own way, shooting him a look that clearly stated that; 'I'm not a china doll!'

"I'm fine." Came the voice of the aforementioned teen from the external speakers of the Peace. Cagalli froze mid way through getting into the vehicle.

"What the-" Yzak began, but was abruptly cut off by a voice that indicated that the owner was reaching their limit.

"You mean you were here this whole time?! Damn it Kira, you were supposed to go straight to the Eternal, not throw yourself back in!" Cagalli yelled in the direction of the stationary machine.

"Hey I'm not the one flying this thing, and Tai and I were on our way there." Kira defended.

"We decided to make a detour, and as it turns out, you should be thanking us instead of grilling us." The self satisfied tone only made her more annoyed; however, she held her tongue, barely, and glared at the machine.

"While we are on the subject," Yzak began, "What the Hell took you so long? You decide to look at the scenery as you took that detour? 'Because it sure took you long enough." Dearka rolled his eyes. There was a reason he was placed on Yzak's team. He was the only one who was able to reason with him when his temper got the better of him.

"Well excuse me for trying to keep the car from becoming scrap metal!" Tai snapped back, not realizing what he had said until it was already out of his mouth. In the time it took for Tai's brain to catch up with his mouth, Athrun had already processed what he had said, and the implications of the statement.

"My car?" he managed to breathe out as the others began organizing the cars and passengers so they could keep moving. "What happened to my car? Why would it look like scrap?" The look he sent the one piloting the machine was not able to be seen on the screen, but Tai, just hearing the tone of voice, was sure it was one with the capability of incinerating him on the spot.

'_Why did I have to open my big mouth?'_ He sent a pleading look at Kira, both knowing of Athrun's passion for his cars. However, Kira sent him a look that said '_You're on your own.´_ He was in enough trouble with Cagalli, and he did _not_ want Athrun on his case as well. This was Tai's problem; he made the bed, now he had to lie in it. "Traitor…" Tai mumbled. Kira tried not to smile at his friends misfortune… not for the first time and it most certainly wouldn't be the last.

"Well… you see… we –" A faint sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. '_SAVED!'_ Tai mentally screamed in triumph. "Now is not the time! We gotta hightail it, ask Mu when you see him. I'm going to go get Kira to the Eternal." With this said Tai jumped on the thrusters and took off. Unfortunately, in his haste, he put a little too much power into the boosters and as he took off, he faltered, losing altitude, before righting the machine. '_Note to self: easy on the clutch.' _He thought sarcastically.

"Tai!" Athrun called as he got farther away.

"It can't be that bad… can it?" Cagalli asked, turning to Dearka. It was just a car, and he had two or three more back at ORB.

"I dunno… if this is the same person we heard about in the academy…" Dearka trailed off, thinking. Finally, he finished: "We may need some popcorn."

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(On the Eternal)

"He did WHAT?!"

The shout could be heard throughout the launch bay and even from the other side of the doors. Many of the workers stopped in surprise, but, noticing the senior engineers barely flinch; they shrugged and went back to work, assuming this was an everyday occurrence. Athrun and the others were standing beside the docked Peace, Luna and Shinn were explaining what had happened after they split up. Cagalli was hiding a smile behind her hand as they were told about the crash, the worry of any secondary injuries from the crash were abated for the moment, but she wanted to see Lacus and Kira soon. When they arrived, Kira was already in the infirmary with Lacus getting checked. Yzak and Dearka were sitting/floating on some storage boxes not too far away, and Tai was in the Peace, having had his head wound looked at before coming down to his newly acquired machine, familiarizing himself with the finer points and functions of the machine.

He was surprised some of the functional aspects of the machine held up as well as they did in the brief skirmish earlier, they were still unstable… that would need to be looked at – but at that moment, Athrun's shout pierced his concentration.

Dearka rubbed a pinky finger in his ear, trying to abate the ringing in his ear; they were a little too close to the source of the shout. "Damn it Athrun, you think you could yell just that little bit louder. I don't think they heard you on _Earth_!" he said sarcastically, his ears still ringing. Athrun turned his glare on him.

"Seriously Athrun, it's just a car." Cagalli said, managing to keep her smile in check. "There are a million more like it, and it's not as if you're here often enough to drive it." Dearka, Yzak and Athrun all looked at her as if she had grown a second head. She may love mechanics, but she still didn't know the first thing about 'Great' cars. "Is she serious? She's kidding, right?" Dearka asked Athrun in a whisper. Cagalli sent him an annoyed glare. He shrank back, '_Why is everyone glaring at me? I didn't do anything.'_ He mentally pouted. Cagalli continued. "I mean, it's not as if he did it on purpose."

"Oh yeah." Luna said, waving her hands to accentuate her words. "He totally made a point of dodging all that debris and trees, just to lock onto that one tree that was minding its own business." Her voice was just dripping sarcasm. "Yeah, you can totally tell he did it on purpose." Shinn snickered at her remark, only to be shot a glare that reasserted itself on Athrun's face.

"It couldn't have been that hard. Compared to flying a Mobile Suit, driving a car is like riding a bike!" he stated.

"Why don't we go back there and you can try to navigate your way through with debris, stationary cars everywhere and back seat drivers! It was like a Minefield!" Came a voice from within the Peace. Tai sighed. This was really getting old, real fast. It was just one car, of the however many Athrun owned. You'd think he'd be more worried about the lives of the passengers than of the car itself. He tried to drown them out by concentrating on the specs, but it wasn't working, as the latest comment from Athrun rang through the launch bay. Even though Tai couldn't see it, Athrun turned to the boy 'hiding' within the machine.

"That's not the point." He retorted.

"The point doesn't matter!" Tai responded as his disembodied head appeared from the Peace. "What does matter is that everyone ended up here safe. Mu and Murrue are at the Archangel, and Kira and Lacus made it here little to no worse for wear. Aside from minor injuries…" he mumbled the last part to himself. Athrun folded his arms and growled. Tai sighed again. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I crashed your car! How many times must I say it before you stop sulking?" he asked as he once again disappeared into the depths of the Peace. "Mu didn't warn me about the shrapnel on the road and it wasn't exactly as easy as you think out there. One moment… one moment of ill concentration, and …" he trailed off, unsure of how to word what he wanted to say.

"You assassinated both the car and the tree in one go. Bravo." Luna interjected the timing too good to pass up. Tai's head reappeared to join Athrun in glaring at her. "Oh come on! It's just a car! A really nice car, but still a car! When were you going to drive it again?" she asked Athrun.

"I doubt any time soon with you guys now on the wanted list." Yzak said as he made to leave the hangar. Suddenly a notice alarm sounded.

"Launch preparations complete, Launching in 30 minutes. All personnel report to their stations immediately. Athrun Zala, Cagalli Yula Atha, Yzak Joule, Dearka Elsman, Lunamaria Hawke, Shinn Asuka and Tai Tenoh, please report to the bridge immediately. " Came the voice through the ships PA system. Cagalli sighed as she headed to the doors with Shinn and Luna.

"This is neither the time nor the place for this. If you want to argue, do it on your own time." She said curtly as she left. Athrun nodded, sending a final glance to the seemingly floating head above the Peace.

"I just hope your reassignment to the Eternal doesn't come back to bite us in the rear." He sighed as he followed Cagalli out. Tai just smiled as he finished in the Peace.

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**A/N:**

**For those who are not aware of the content of the Junius Seven Treaty, here is a summary of the content. A reviewed version was signed at the conclusion of the events in Destiny, but the points below are still in effect:**

**The Junius Treaty prohibits the use of N-Jammer Cancellers in mobile suits and military weapons, and all use of Mirage Colloid is banned outright. As a result, both sides are prohibited from developing or deploying mobile suits equipped with nuclear engines or Mirage Colloid stealth systems. The treaty also places strict limits on the number of ships, mobile suits, and mobile armours that each side can maintain, as per the proposals of the Lindemann Plan.**

**Other constraints are also established as part of the post-war settlement. For example, the Orb Union is prohibited by treaty from providing direct military assistance to the PLANTs, but it is unclear as to whether this restriction is imposed by the Junius Treaty itself or by a separate agreement.**

**(reference: Gundamofficial)**

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**A/N: (Ldsprincess) I'm sorry for not updating. I have to admit, that it was 85% lack of time, 10% lack of memory (I kept forgetting...) and 5% laziness. I have to say though I have been really busy. I had my appendix out near the beginning of the year and have been on and off sick since then. I also changed job locations and they have been keeping me really busy. That and we have both been watching SWORD ART ONLINE and other anime instead of typing as I am supposed to... Bad Girl.  
But we have not neglected this story, it is still being hand written. I have got the next 3 chapters in hand written format, but not typed. But they are long chapters, so there's something to look forward to!**

**And the clutch reference is just me. (Ldsprincess) I am learning how to drive a manual and when I started, my dad constantly was telling me that... his two favourite sayings when I make a mistake : "Easy on the Clutch" and "Flow like water, Grasshopper"... so that's where that came from.**

**Next Chapter:**

**Chapter 10: The Escape**

**Sorry… haven't written enough to give a proper preview… so this is just going to have to do!**


	11. Urgent Notice

Hey Everybody!

I know you were all hoping for an update, but I have some bad news…

But before you think of the worst: I will say that we will NOT be discontinuing the Battle of the Bonds, quite the opposite.

However, certain circumstances have put a few road blocks in our paths… mainly on my (Ldsprincess's) part. While kairi loves sora is streaming ahead on her end… I'm afraid on my end is where the traffic is.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of going to Supanova in Melbourne, Australia, and was able to meet Vic Mignogna for a second time. However upon my return home to Queensland I found out that my mother had Breast Cancer. As you can probably tell this is a huge deal for me and I have had to put many things on hold. I have had to work longer hours at work to help support my father whom is already doing double shifts, to help support the family.

I will strive to write as often as I can… but please be patient with me.

Again, I am so sorry for all those who were waiting for an update. I am going to try and finish the next chapter within the next two weeks or so.

Thank you for all the reviews and likes and follows we have gained!

Another tip to please add in your reviews what you liked about a particular chapter, what you didn't like, what made you laugh, what made you think of a plot line (I do that a lot… and some authours hate it when I guess correctly) and just anything that stuck out to you in the chapter. Feedback is what we thrive on and if you could give us more than just an "Update Please?" comment, it would be fantastic. We know a lot of people like Tai! We have some big plans in store for his story!

Anyway, thanks again for following us.

Ldsprincess


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